Economic Growth & Mobility Project

What Is the Economic Growth & Mobility Project?

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia works to strengthen our nation’s economy in ways that can create opportunity for all residents. The Economic Growth & Mobility Project (EGMP), a new initiative of the Philadelphia Fed, is a multilevel effort to bring entrepreneurial solutions to achieve inclusive economic growth and create pathways out of poverty in communities across the Third District and our nation. By leveraging the highly respected and valuable economic research produced by the Federal Reserve System and others, the EGMP will foster catalytic partnerships among public, private, and philanthropic stakeholders to achieve long-term economic improvements. The project will focus on the many ways that poverty influences the economy, highlighting the specific impacts of race and ethnicity, gender, and geography. A central component of the initiative will be in creating Research in Action Labs that promote research-informed practice, focusing specifically on community and individual solutions in the areas of job creation and job access, education and workforce, and affordable housing.

Creating Job Opportunities
Promoting inclusive economic development strategies that create and grow decent-paying jobs

Improving Human Capital
Preparing today's residents for tomorrow's jobs through early childhood education, improved K–12, and effective pathways to college and career

Addressing Housing Needs
Creating and sustaining economically integrated affordable housing solutions that are accessible to sustainable jobs and amenities

Resources

Transportation

• Accessing Economic Opportunity: Public Transit, Job Access, and Equitable Economic Development in Three Medium-Sized Regions
  This report examines access to transit, access to decent-paying jobs not requiring a four-year college degree, and the accessibility of large employment centers across three medium-sized regions in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. 
• Getting to Work on Time: Public Transit and Job Access in Northeastern Pennsylvania
  This report explores the extent to which public transit in northeastern Pennsylvania connects low-income neighborhoods to opportunity employment, which pays above the median wage and doesn’t require a four-year degree. 
• Northeastern Pennsylvania Equitable Transit Study 
  Research conducted by The Institute for Public Policy & Economic Development at Wilkes University assesses transportation barriers for community members, particularly those from underrepresented backgrounds and those most at risk of facing transportation difficulty.
• Linking Employment and Transportation: A Resource Guide for Employers

Affordable Housing

• Affordability and Availability of Rental Housing in the Third Federal Reserve District: 2015
  The demand for rental housing has greatly surpassed the supply of available units in the Third District. As a result, rents have increased sharply, and a rising share of low-income households is straining to pay housing costs. 
• Gentrification and Changes in the Stock of Low-Cost Rental Housing in Philadelphia, 2000–2014
  Research into Philadelphia housing trends show gentrifying neighborhoods lost low-cost rental units at nearly five times the rate of nongentrifying neighborhoods. 
• Gentrification and Residential Mobility in Philadelphia 
  Research shows that vulnerable residents are generally no more likely to move from gentrifying neighborhoods compared with their counterparts in nongentrifying neighborhoods. But when they do move, they are more likely to land in lower-income neighborhoods, putting them at a greater disadvantage. 
• Mortgage Origination and Servicing Issues Affecting Low- and Moderate-Income Homeowners
  A Philadelphia Fed-sponsored symposium brings together experts on housing and mortgages to discuss the challenges that low- and moderate-income households face in achieving homeownership. 
• Details about Rental Housing Affordability 
  This interactive data set provides details about housing affordability and availability according to household demographics and economic profiles for metropolitan areas and states in the Third District. 
• Spring 2017 Cascade – Rental Housing Affordability
  Low-income households in the Third District face acute shortages of affordable and available rental units, leading to a strain on finances.

Inclusive Growth & Poverty

• Building a Modern, Inclusive Economic Development Plan
• Building an Inclusive, Transformative Economy
• Equitable Development: Advancing Opportunity Through Stronger Local Economies
  A webinar brings together community development experts to discuss programs and incentives that can connect economic growth with underserved communities in cities such as Pittsburgh and Lancaster, PA. 
• Equitable Economic Development Conference
• Fiscal Stress in the Small Postindustrial City: Causes, Consequences, and Implications for Community Development
• In Philadelphia’s Shadow: Small Cities in the Third Federal Reserve District
• Leading Inclusive Growth: A Meeting with the Mayors
  When it comes to promoting economic mobility, city mayors are leading the charge. Mayors, including James Kenney of Philadelphia and Dana Redd of Camden, NJ, discuss the challenges of urban poverty and programs that are succeeding. 
• Neighborhood and Life Chances: How Place Matters in Modern America
• New Publication Examines Economic Mobility
  The Philadelphia Fed, Atlanta Fed, and Penn Institute for Urban Research have released a series of five articles reviewing strategies for promoting economic growth and mobility. The articles can be found in the latest issue of Cityscape. 
• Ohio Funders Promote Collaboration on Economic Development and Opportunity
• Out of the Shadow: Strategies for Change in Small Postindustrial Cities
• Presidents’ Perspectives: The Fed’s Role in Our Communities
• Regional Economic Growth and Mobility Dashboard 
  Our Regional Economic Growth and Mobility Dashboard illustrates for policymakers and residents data on their community’s economic wellbeing and performance relative to other metro areas. The dashboard will help cities create policies that promote equitable economic development 
• Reversing the Cycle of Poverty
  Where a poor family lives is just as important as how poor a family is. As poverty becomes more concentrated in certain U.S. localities, programs designed to assist low-income households must look at both the individual and spatial components of poverty. 
• Revitalizing American Cities
• Small Legacy Cities, Equity, and a Changing Economy
  In the northeastern U.S., many cities have suffered decades of business closings, job losses, and out-migration of residents. This paper examines how three cities in the Third District — Wilmington, DE, and Lancaster and Bethlehem, PA — reinvented themselves and now face the challenge of creating economic equity. 
• Tackling Inequality in Our Cities
  Inequality is not just about income. It also affects educational outcomes, health status, and job opportunities, according to an official at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Economic growth must include people from all walks of life. 
• The Enduring Challenge of Concentrated Poverty: Case Studies from Communities Across the U.S.
• The Role of Anchor Institutions in Transforming Economies
• Toward Digital Inclusion: Broadband Access in the Third Federal Reserve District
  This report suggests that broadband, and the benefits it provides community members, is less accessible for residents of rural, low- and moderate-income, and predominantly black and Latino neighborhoods.
• Transformative Economies: Emerging Practices for Aligning Growth and Inclusion
  This report provides a framework for building transformative economies while highlighting emerging approaches and innovative programs in regions across the country. 

Job Creation & Economic Development

• Are Tax Incentives the Answer to More Job Creation?
  Local governments that compete for jobs by offering incentives to businesses for locating to their cities or states cost U.S. taxpayers an estimated $70 billion annually. Yet these governments frequently miss attracting the real job creators in the U.S. economy — new and young firms. 
• Deep Tax Incentives Fuel $1 Billion in New Development in Allentown, PA: Four Perspectives
• Economic and Social Impact of Introducing Casino Gambling: A Review and Assessment of the Literature
• Identifying Opportunity Occupations in the Nation's Largest Metropolitan Economies
• Immigrant Integration: An Economic Development Strategy 
  The panel session from the 2016 Reinventing Our Communities conference explains the process of immigrant integration. When cities and communities are able to harness the skills and energy that immigrants bring with them, both newcomers and the community benefit. 
• Immigrant Integration as an Economic Development Strategy
• Investing to Create Good Jobs
  This report profiles three investors who are at the forefront of making investments with the “intentionality” of creating good jobs. “Impact investing” is a case of doing good while also doing well. 
• Measuring the Quality, Not Quantity, of Job Creation
• Revitalizing Commercial Corridors: Lessons from LISC MetroEdge
• Small Business Credit Survey 
  The Fed’s annual survey of business conditions and the credit environment faced by small business owners who have full- or part-time employees.
• Small Businesses Report Better Financing Outcomes
• Talent Strategy Solutions to Hire, Upskill, and Retain Employers
• The Changing World of Small Business Finance
• The Rise and Fall of Philadelphia’s Commercial Corridors
  Commercial corridors rise and fall with their neighborhoods. Corridor merchants must work together to ensure a vibrant commercial area, but that strategy means some shop owners may face the “tragedy of the commons.” 
• Uneven Opportunity: Exploring Employers’ Educational Preferences for Middle-Skilled Jobs
  This paper seeks to understand why employers’ preferences for college-educated candidates vary dramatically across U.S. metropolitan areas. The highest education requirements were found in the Northeast and in high-wage metropolitan areas. 

Human Capital & Workforce Development

• The Jobs and Workers Most Economically Impacted by Social Distancing
  This research brief looks at the types of jobs and workers most likely to feel the economic impacts of social distancing practices due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It finds that workers most affected tend to be younger, to be nonwhite or Latino, to rent their homes, and to have lower levels of formal education. 
• The Small Businesses Most Impacted by COVID-19 Shutdowns
  This research brief identifies the small businesses most affected by social distancing practices and mandated shutdowns related to the COVID-19 pandemic. It finds that at least 19 million small businesses face serious financial challenges during the shutdown, with over 20 million small business employees at risk of being dislocated nationwide. The report notes that “quick and coordinated technical assistance” will be critical in saving at-risk firms.
• Annie E. Casey Foundation Initiative Combines Employer Engagement and Positive Youth Development Strategies
• Apprenticeship Guide
  This guide explains how apprenticeships work; discusses trends, successes, and challenges in U.S. apprenticeships; provides case studies of five long-term apprenticeship programs; profiles new and noteworthy programs; and includes contacts and resources.
• Apprenticeships and Their Potential in the U.S.
• At the Intersection of Education and Employment
  Research is showing that stronger connections must be made between high school and post-secondary education or employment, especially for young adults who are neither in school or employed. Some programs are bridging that gap.
• Bank’s Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) Opportunities for Promoting Job Creation, Workforce Development, and Place-Based Investment
  Using examples from recent CRA performance evaluations, this report summarizes the potential mechanisms through which CRA could help promote economic prosperity and mobility, especially in low- and middle-income communities.
• Barclaycard US Apprenticeship Program in Delaware Enters Fourth Year
• Building Opportunities and Skills for a Growing Digital Workforce
• Business Must Develop the Workforce of the Future It Needs
  A strong labor market and sustainable economic growth require companies to rethink the role they play in developing their talent supply chain. Business will need to be at the heart of talent development.
• Coalition Helps Returning Citizens Move from Corrections to Communities
  Once released from prisons, ex-offenders face unemployment, financial stress, and a lack of adequate housing. A coalition in Lancaster County, PA, works to help “returning citizens” find employment, job training, and housing to reduce the likelihood of recidivism.
• CRA – Don’t Know What You’ve Got Til’ It’s Gone
  A new study looks at how changes in the Community Reinvestment Act affected mortgage activity in different Philadelphia area communities.
• Creating Summer and Year-round Employment Opportunities for High School Students
• Creating Workforce Development Programs for High School Students
• Digital Skills for the 21st-Century Workforce
  This brief combines perspectives from industry and nonprofit leaders, shared during a series of listening sessions in 2018, with an overview of workforce development challenges that employers face and innovative strategies they are using to prepare workers with digital skills for 21st-century jobs.
• Early Childhood Programs with High Returns on Investment
• High School Dropout Reengagement
• Intermediaries Play Key Role in Expanding Apprenticeships
• Investments in Young Children Yield High Public Returns
• Pre-K Debate Shifts from Effectiveness to Scale
  Research has long shown that quality pre-kindergarten classes strengthen academic performance later on. The question now is how to expand access and enrollment to pre-K classes, especially for low- and moderate-income children.
• Promising Approaches and Emerging Practices for Addressing Youth Unemployment
  A conference at the Philadelphia Fed explores ways to bridge the gap from unemployment to work, especially for “disconnected” youths — those who are not working or in school. Topics include apprenticeships and strategies to reengage disconnected youths with education. 
• Savings and Credit Building Can Be Integrated in Youth Employment Programs
• Special Series – College Access & Student Success
  A multiyear evaluation study of how Rutgers-Camden’s Bridging the Gap program aided the school’s students.
• Strengthening Youth Employment Programs
• Student Loan Trends in the Third Federal Reserve District
• What Can Employers Do to Mitigate Hiring Difficulties?
  As the labor market has tightened in recent years, filling open job positions has become more challenging for firms. This report analyzes time-to-fill data for online job ads to address how employers might mitigate that challenge.
• Which Neighborhoods and Households Will Be Most Impacted by COVID-19?
  This research brief looks at the economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis through a geographic lens. It finds neighborhoods most at risk because of virus-related job losses were already struggling economically.
• Workforce Development: Engaging Employers
  A panel discussion from the 2016 Reinventing Our Communities conference explores the challenges of helping young job seekers gain the skills they need and how to engage employers to “listen and adapt” to a changing workforce.

Our Experts

• Alvaro Sánchez
• Ashely Putnam
• Eileen Divringi
• Keith Wardrip
• Lei Ding
• Theresa Y. Singleton

FRS Bibliography

• View the bibliography