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Aug 5, 2024 | 
liberalpatriot.com | Timothy J. Bartik
As outlined previously in this series on place-based policies, the United States has many distressed places—defined as local labor markets or neighborhoods that are short of good jobs. Have recent labor market trends improved conditions in these places? Are policymakers effectively addressing these problems? On the first question: Yes, jobs are moving to distressed places, but not by enough to help much.
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May 28, 2024 | 
crainsgrandrapids.com | Timothy J. Bartik |Andy Balaskovitz
By Timothy J. BartikJobs can further be targeted at the unemployed by encouraging assisted businesses to work closely with local workforce programs to fill job vacancies. Such cooperation could include helping businesses through customized job training programs, which provide trained workers that match an employer’s skill needs.
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May 10, 2024 | 
crainsdetroit.com | Timothy J. Bartik
As Michigan policymakers consider reforms to the state’s economic development policies, they should keep in mind two principles. First, the benefits of job creation are far greater if the jobs are targeted at the unemployed. Second, although business tax incentives can create jobs, costs per job created are lower for investments in business infrastructure or customized business services.
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Apr 4, 2024 | 
upjohn.org | Timothy J. Bartik
By Timothy J. BartikEconomic development tax incentives are often controversial. By “economic development tax incentives,” I mean providing some sort of cash tax break, compared to normal taxation, for a business that is locating or expanding in a state. The controversy arises in part because the immediate beneficiary of the tax break is the firm.
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Mar 8, 2024 | 
liberalpatriot.com | Timothy J. Bartik
Every place wants more good jobs. But where will more jobs have the greatest benefits? In other words, how many Americans live in places that suffer from job distress and lack sufficient access to good jobs? As discussed previously, distressed places are of two types: distressed local labor markets and distressed neighborhoods. These different types require different policy solutions.
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Sep 1, 2023 | 
brookings.edu | Timothy J. Bartik |Mark Muro
As politicians and pundits debate the merits of “Bidenomics,” one part of the administration’s economic strategy deserves special attention: the significant investments in “place-based” policies designed to boost growth in particular locations. Among these new investments is the Distressed Area Recompete Pilot Program, authorized in the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act. This initiative is aimed at funding distressed local labor markets to bolster their prime-age (25- to 54-year-olds) employment rates.
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Aug 8, 2023 | 
liberalpatriot.com | Timothy J. Bartik
Bringing jobs to the residents of distressed places across the United States could help both these residents and the nation. These locations have low “employment rates,” or low employment-to-population ratios, and place-based policies could work to improve their residents’ economic conditions. But distressed places aren’t uniform. It’s crucial to distinguish between neighborhoods and local labor markets, for instance.
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Jun 2, 2023 | 
brookings.edu | Timothy J. Bartik |Aaron Sojourner |Kathleen Bolter
The United States has long struggled with the challenge of providing quality, affordable child care for working parents. Recent proposed investments in the “care economy”—part of President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better agenda—were left on the congressional cutting room floor. Despite this setback, the administration continues to take steps to address the issue through executive action, as our Brookings Metro colleague Molly Kinder observed recently.
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May 31, 2023 | 
liberalpatriot.com | Timothy J. Bartik
My first column argued that bringing jobs to distressed places could help both the residents of those places, and the nation. But such help will not be forthcoming if it is simply too difficult to bring jobs to distressed places. By definition, distressed places have economic problems, and a skeptic might say that maybe most of these problems are not readily fixable.
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Apr 27, 2023 | 
bostonreview.net | Timothy J. Bartik
In reply to “The False Promise of Opportunity Zones,” April 13, 2023To the Editors:Timothy Weaver’s article does an excellent job pointing out that policies to incentivize private investment in distressed neighborhoods may not help the original neighborhood residents and may even harm their well-being. As Weaver points out, even when such policies actually induce significant private neighborhood investment, the original residents may not obtain the created jobs.
