Lately, I've found a very simple way to find out if the economic developers in a community or region are staying current with job and employment trends. I ask them just two very simple questions.
Question one: How many people in the United States make a full time living from eBay?
Question two: How many people in your region make a full time living from eBay.
The answer to the first question is easy. Currently, about 724,000 people make a full time living from eBay, up from a half million last year.
If your economic developers don't know the answer to the first question, your region is in trouble, because it says your economic developers are not keeping their eye on microenterprise trends and the ability of microenterprises to contribute significantly to the local economy.
Few economic developers know the answer to the second question, but they should. Some regions are surveying local business owners on a regular basis, and others are surveying households to find out if there are self-employed people in the home. That's the right thing to be doing--as a first step. The second step is to make sure you have lots and lots of small business support and training programs in place to help those microenterprises grow. Small businesses need all the help they can get, and it may be the cheapest and easiest way to grow new jobs in your region (hint: small busines owners don't expect tax breaks and multimillion dollar handouts), and you don't have to compete with six other states to get them to start a business--they are already right where you want them.