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State Economic Development Bulletin – Issue 88, December 2025

Written by

aulaky@crec.net

in

Issue 88, December 2025

A Summary of Cutting-Edge Articles Affecting States

HEADLINES

SEDE News 🗞️

Economy and Trade💰

Workforce ⚒️

Business Expansions and Incentives 📊

SEDE News 🗞️

SEDE Member Spotlight: Eric Paley, Secretary of Economic Development, Massachusetts Executive Office of Economic Development

Paley joined Massachusetts EOED in September 2025. For more than 25 years prior to entering state government, Paley worked to shape the innovation economy as both a successful entrepreneur and a leading venture capitalist. As co-founder and Managing Partner of Founder Collective, Paley helped build one of the world’s highest-performing seed-stage venture capital funds. His investment portfolio includes groundbreaking technology companies across diverse sectors such as transportation, media, healthcare, consumer, advanced manufacturing and enterprise software, including Uber (NYSE), The Trade Desk (NSDQ), Omada Health, Whoop, Formlabs and Airtable. He served on the Board of Directors of The Trade Desk from its founding until 2023, including as a public director after the company’s IPO in 2016. At Founder Collective, Paley also launched Collective Future, an annual Boston conference bringing together Massachusetts’ most influential innovators across technology, government, media, cultural and non-profit sectors to collaboratively shape the future of the innovation economy.

Paley holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College. He lives in Cambridge with his wife and two children. He previously served on the Board of Directors of the YMCA of Greater Boston and has been engaged in philanthropic efforts primarily to alleviate food insecurity in Massachusetts.

SEDE Members on the Move: Washington State Department of Commerce

We’re pleased to share recent leadership changes within the SEDE Network. Join us in celebrating these transitions and welcoming new leaders to our community!

Outgoing Leader: Grace Yoo, Assistant Director, Economic Development

Yoo served as Assistant Director and led the Office of Economic Development and Competitiveness teams at Commerce, including industry sector development, circular economy, rural and marketing services, small business export assistance, small business finance and community support, finance and grant services, and contracts and procurement. She has transitioned to Snohomish County, WA as the Strategic Sector Development Director.

Incoming Leader: Andrea Chartock, Assistant Director, Economic Development

Chartock has led economic development and competitiveness projects globally for over 25 years, including supporting small and medium-sized enterprises to increase sales, jobs, exports and attract investments in more than 30 countries. She has extensive experience in the industry sectors important to Washington, such as agriculture (tree fruit, grain and berries), information and communication technology, tourism, creative economy, industrial symbiosis, forest products and clean tech. Chartock has a master’s degree in international policy studies as well as an undergraduate degree with honors from Stanford University.

Manufacturing Momentum Summit: 2025 Report (Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness) U.S. manufacturers face serious workforce challenges reflecting rapid changes in technology that are changing the landscape of manufacturing. These changes will demand new skills and competencies that the current workforce system is not yet capable of supporting. The Manufacturing Momentum Summit, a national roundtable, provided a forum for finding solutions to the challenges facing the advanced manufacturing sector. Participants underscored the urgent need for data infrastructure, more consistent accountability systems, and better communication of workforce outcomes. The report is a summary of the discussions and insights from the August 2025 event.

Opportunity Zones 2.0: A Guide for Governors and Mayors (Economic Innovation Group) The 2025 Reconciliation Act calls on governors to act by the summer of 2026 by nominating one-quarter of their low-income census tracts for Opportunity Zone (OZ) status. The zone designation process therefore gives governors a rare opportunity to shape the landscape of investment in their states — and channel that investment towards the low-income communities that need it most. The guide will explain OZs and how they work, summarize the national process, and establish a framework for selecting zones with purpose. Experience from OZ 1.0 underscores that OZ designation alone does not generate investment. Only well-chosen zones paired with development-ready policies will attract capital and deliver impact at scale.

NSF TIP Launches Investment Explorer (NSF) The U.S. National Science Foundation Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (NSF TIP) announced the launch of the TIP Investment Explorer, featuring a map and award data, to showcase the scale and impact of NSF TIP’s investments across the nation and in key technology areas. With the new TIP Investment Explorer, users can view interactive connections between lead awards and subawards, summary details by region and investment amounts, and at-a-glance visuals of funding levels.

Economy and Trade 💰

The Coalition Imperative: A Guidebook for How Regions Can Sustain Coalitions (Brookings) Cross-sector coalitions – public, private, nonprofit, and philanthropic actors working together on a shared, transformative vision that integrates talent, innovation, and placemaking strategies – offer a compelling approach to grow good jobs and expand economic mobility. When managed well, cross-sector coalitions can help regions achieve greater strategic alignment, resource efficiency, and economic resilience. It distills lessons into five foundational building blocks of cross-sector coalitions (aimed primarily at local and regional leaders), as well as five implications for the future of place-based economic policy (aimed primarily at policymakers and investors).

The Nation’s Data at Risk: 2025 Report (American Statistical Association) The nation’s federal statistical system is facing a period of unprecedented strain, uncertainty, and transformation. Since the American Statistical Association (ASA) began monitoring the health of the federal statistical agencies in 2023, the system’s core capacity has been tested by significant staff losses, funding shortfalls, and threats to statistical integrity. The report highlights challenges and opportunities across five dimensions: staffing and capacity; system structure and funding; innovation; congressional engagement; and stakeholder support and concludes with a set of nine new recommendations to strengthen and modernize the nation’s statistical foundation.

Economy in Place Data Visualization Platform (Harvard Kennedy School) Economy in Place is a new data visualization tool to explore local conditions and policies targeting place. It tracks conditions across 700+ commuting zones across the U.S., synthesizing data from a range of sources into interactive dashboards. The platform is practical for place-based practitioners, as it makes a range of data available in an integrated manner at the community zone level, and enables comparisons with neighboring and similar regions.

Advancing Regional Innovation Economies (Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center) Entrepreneurship doesn’t just power job creation, it underpins America’s global competitiveness, our communities’ resilience, and the promise of upward mobility. Small businesses account for nearly half of the U.S. workforce and two-thirds of new jobs. Findings show that entrepreneurial outcomes are patterned, not random, and that targeted interventions, private public partnerships, and data-driven policy can unlock untapped market potential in many communities. This report includes regional profiles of Columbus, Kansas City, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Portland, Richmond, and Seattle.

Military Spending in Louisiana Up 77%, Generating $17B in Economic Impact (Louisiana Economic Development) Military-related spending in Louisiana generated more than $17 billion in total economic activity during fiscal year 2024, according to a new statewide analysis released by Louisiana Economic Development. The report shows notable expansion in the state’s defense sector since the previous study four years ago, underscoring the military’s continued impact on jobs, investment and community development. The analysis examines military installations, defense contracts, and retiree and veteran spending to measure the military’s economic impact on the state and within LED’s eight defined regions.

Workforce ⚒️

Sustaining Strong Rural Partnerships to Serve Student and Workforce Development Needs (RAND) Rural regions across the United States are facing enduring challenges in aligning postsecondary education with industry and workforce development to advance economic mobility. The Tristate Energy and Advanced Manufacturing (TEAM) Consortium, which spans 45 counties across Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, brings together ten community colleges and 14 workforce development boards (WDBs) to serve a largely rural region. In this report, the authors examine the evolution of the TEAM Consortium from 2017 to 2025 and highlight how regional partnerships can tackle persistent workforce and economic development challenges in rural regions.

State Snapshots of Early Childcare and Education (Urban Institute) Nationwide, the current supply of infant and toddler early care and education (ECE) does not meet demand, and the costs of care are unaffordable for many families.  Snapshots of the ECE landscape for all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the United States overall can be found in this article.

Meeting the Childcare Challenge: Opportunities for EDDs (NADO) Childcare costs and shortages are increasingly recognized as barriers to comprehensive regional development. This report examines the drivers of the challenge and the impact it has had on communities across the country. It highlights roles that EDDs are playing to increase childcare accessibility, quality, and affordability in their communities, and has recommendations for districts who have not yet been involved with childcare initiatives.

NY Announces $40M for Workforce Development in Advanced Nuclear Energy (New York State) Governor Kathy Hochul announced $40 million in new annual workforce development funding over the next four years from the New York Power Authority (NYPA) to develop the workforce needed to support advanced nuclear energy in Upstate New York. The funding, approved by the NYPA Board of Trustees, will directly support the Governor’s call in June for the Power Authority to develop at least one gigawatt of advanced nuclear power in Upstate New York. The Power Authority board also awarded a total of $4 million to universities and organizations to develop and expand programs that prepare New Yorkers for high-demand careers in artificial intelligence, electromechanical trades, and advanced power systems to meet the evolving needs of the renewable energy sector.

How Virginia Just Redefines the Future of its Biopharma Workforce (BioBuzz) Three of the world’s most influential biopharma companies – AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, and Merck – announced a joint $120 million investment to build a workforce training center in Virginia. This investment is an indicator for how the future of life sciences talent will be built, distributed, and sustained across America. The new Virginia Center for Advanced Pharmaceutical Manufacturing (VCAPM) will anchor a statewide initiative designed to train 2,000 to 2,500 students annually through stackable credentials and degrees. If three global pharma powerhouses are willing to invest directly in regional talent creation, the message to other states and companies is clear: the competition for biomanufacturing growth will be won not by tax incentives, but by workforce readiness.

Business Expansions and Incentives 📊

Austin, TX New Deal with Southwest Airlines to Add 2,000 Jobs (KVUE-TV Austin) A deal approved between the Austin City Council and Southwest Airlines awards Southwest $2,750 for each new Austin-based hire over the next five years. In exchange, the airline plans to add 2,000 high-paying jobs with an average salary of $180,000 and invest in local workforce initiatives. The partnership is expected to bring in nearly $20 million in local tax revenue, and the incentive program will last for five years and pay Southwest up to $5.5 million. Southwest will also donate 10% of its per-job incentive to the city’s new child care assistance fund, and the funding will be contingent upon performance and compliance evaluations.

California Awards $100M in Tax Credits to 9 Companies (Manufacturing Dive) The California Office of Business and Economic Development awarded $99.9 million in tax credits to nine companies that plan to establish or expand manufacturing operations in the state. The tax incentives, dubbed CalCompetes, will bring in more than $370 million in investments to California. The tax credits will also support an estimated 2,752 jobs, with an average annual salary of $139,000. The nine manufacturers include those that produce aerospace components, data center infrastructure components, and diagnostic devices.

Rockwell Automation to Build Wisconsin Factory in $2B U.S. Expansion (Start-Midwest) Wisconsin industrial automation technology giant Rockwell Automation recently announced plans to build a new greenfield manufacturing site in Southeastern Wisconsin, as part of a broader effort to expand its U.S. production and digital capabilities. According to Rockwell, it will be their largest manufacturing campus in the world, spanning over 1 million square feet. The project will integrate the latest production technologies, including AI and analytics tools, to provide employees with access to advanced technologies and training.

The State Economic Development Executives (SEDE) Network engages in regular events throughout the year. State Economic Development.org lists these activities and offers an interactive forum for discussion among peers. The SEDE Steering Committee includes: Sandra Watson (AZ), Chair; Clint O’Neal (AR); Quentin Messer (MI), Kevin McKinnon (MN); Michelle Hataway (MO); Thomas Burns (NV) Hope Knight (NY); Christopher Chung (NC); Andrew Deye (OH); Sophorn Cheang (OR); Ashely Teasdel (SC), Adriana Cruz (TX).

Allison Ulaky of the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness (CREC) led the development of this Bulletin; for questions on the content in this Bulletin or for information on the SEDE Network contact Bob Isaacson, CREC Senior Vice President.

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