Yesterday, I gave the keynote address to a conference organized by the National Employment Law Project (NELP). The NELP conference focused on grassroots ideas for creating jobs and economic opportunities in local communities. My keynote address was entitled “What Works in Job Creation and Economic Development”. The full text of the keynote address can be found here.

The address discusses what policies are most cost-effective in increasing local earnings per capita. These policies include high-quality early childhood programs. But I also identify other local policies that have a large benefit-cost ratio in increasing local earnings per capita. Such policies include customized job training, wage subsidies for hiring the long-term unemployed, and high school career academies.

The important social goal of better local employment opportunities should be pursued by comprehensive strategies. Early childhood program advocates need to understand how their programs might fit into a broader policy context. Economic development advocates should see how their strategies should be broader than business incentives.