Unless Greater Minnesota community acts to replace the economic base jobs lost in the last five years, as well as those expected to be lost in the future and the additional jobs needed to grow again, the region faces an economic death spiral which will be difficult to escape.

“E > P” (E greater than P) represents an economic formula devised and popularized by New Mexico economic developer Mark Lautman, where “E” is the economy and “P” is the population. The formula asserts that, for an economy to succeed, the growth of the economy must be greater than the growth of the population.

The average cost to create a job is estimated to be just under $4,900. Some communities in Greater Minnesota are spending hundreds of thousands each year, and the region has been loosing population sense the 1990s. They have no accountability when hundreds of jobs leave.

Skill gap, job loss, population loss and millions of dollars a year are wasted. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, said Albert Einstein.

Let’s move to what all the surrounding states that are currently taking our companies are doing, economic development corporations. Most of the USA has had them for decades with great success when they are accountable. Let’s ask, when hundreds of thousands of dollars are spent, what is the return on investment? Let’s make economic development accountable.

 

Brad Berg

Greater Minnesota Economic Alliance

Truman