An Occupational Approach to Regional Growth and Specialization

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Received theories of regional growth stress the role of firms and managers in making location decisions. In contrast, this research project investigates whether an occupational rather than an industrial approach might better explain regional growth differentials. The occupational approach emphasizes the causal role of human capital, especially as key generative occupations. Skilled workers of all sorts are less linked to specific industries than in the past, exhibit considerable inter-regional mobility and may provide a better vantage point from which to assess entrepreneurial potential than does the traditional reliance upon industries in regional analysis. To identify occupations key to regional development, the research effort uses four attributes: capturability, growth potential, cross-fertilization and entrepreneurship. Using federal and state level data on occupations, the effort will identify generative occupations for each of a set of US metropolitan areas and test hypotheses regarding the contribution of each to overall growth performance. It will also compare the results of an occupational approach to traditional industrial approaches.The research results will contribute methodological innovations to comparative regional growth analysis, expand the state of knowledge on the composition of regional economies and offer economic development practitioners an additional tool for guiding metropolitan growth and development. Billions of dollars have been spent by state and local governments in attempts to attract and retain firms, with mixed results. Encouraging the development of key occupations by working with the institutions that create and organize them (e.g. schools, colleges and Universities, training programs, professional associations) might prove a more economical and effective way of anchoring economic activity in regions than targeting industrial sectors. This research is designed to test the theoretical underpinnings of this novel approach to economic development.