urbanSTL

The future of STL and our growth (or decline) is fully dependent on the industries we have and the jobs to offer.

In what industries do we have our advantages?
From what industries will the jobs of the future be sourced?
Where will we see Growth?

Around 2000l the Battelle Institute produced a working paper on the Industry Clusters on which the STL Metro Area specifically should commit for economic growth going forward. Their assessment focused on five Industry Clusters:
- Advanced Manufacturing
- Biotechnology
- Information Technology
- Financial Services
- Transportation & Logistics

Not so long ago, Governor Nixon put out a five year plan for economic development focused on the following:
- Advanced Manufacturing
- Energy
- Biosciences
- Health Sciences & Services
- Information Technology
- Financial Services
- Transportation & Logistics

Now, did Governor Nixon's office just rehash the Battelle Study from 10+ years earlier but now covering the entire State? How far have we come since then? Can we soundly state that we have effected enough investment into these industries, from the private and public sectors, to reflect full commitments towards these industries developing into full clusters?

Consider growth in these specific industries, and sectors of these industries, when conemplating regional growth. This is where we'll have jobs for ourselves and for transplants to the area. New Housing Starts are good to know, but they are likely ancillary to new jobs being formed.

wabash wrote:^Thanks. That's a really helpful visualization. I agree with their exclusion of Columbus from being a "principal rust belt city". It's just too new, university driven, and wasn't a big manufacturing center at the turn of the last century. Then again, I'd think Indy could probably be included. Also, it's odd that they have Pittsburgh and Lafayette as "recovered rust belt" and not Chicago. Still, cool graphic.

Good catch on Pittsburgh. I guess that city's 8.6% population loss from "00 to '10 was the right kind while our 8.3% wasn't. I even think that Allegheny County lost more than our City + County. Perhaps they are suggesting that the Pittsburgh region now has a more diversified economy than the rest of the rustbelt, but "recovered" seems wrong.

Stagnant. That is how I would describe the St. Louis metro. The City continues to decline as a whole, with pockets of progress. St. Louis county is starting to feel the same pressures as the city. The collar counties do not see their future prosperity as tied to that of the city or county, instead trying to go it alone and finding far more in common with those in the state's rural areas. Until some of these factors change, neither will the regions prognosis.