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Matching these filters: 12 pieces
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- ExplainerWorkforce & Skills
What makes an apprenticeship registered
Registration is a legal status granted by the Department of Labor or a recognised state agency, not a verdict on the quality of the training. By the end you will know what the sponsor has to promise, what the apprentice is owed, and what the credential is worth away from the firm that issued the work.
- ExplainerWorkforce & Skills
What a state unemployment rate leaves out
The rate is a fraction whose denominator moves. By the end you will know why it can fall while a state's workforce shrinks, and why it counts residents when payroll figures count jobs.
- ExplainerRegional Development
What a new business application actually counts
Business applications are the fastest local signal of new enterprise, and the most often oversold. By the end you will know what the filing is, how far it sits from a business with employees, and what the count cannot tell a city.
- ExplainerRegional Development
Building permits and what they signal before the construction shows up
A permit is an authorisation, not a building. By the end you will know why the series moves before construction spending does, and why a single month of it is close to useless on its own.
- ExplainerInfrastructure
What makes an industrial site shovel ready
Site readiness is a list of specific permissions and physical connections, not a mood. By the end you will know what a certified site has actually cleared, what it has not, and which constraint usually decides the timetable.
- ExplainerRegional Development
How a balanced-budget rule shapes what a state can offer
Almost every state has to close its books inside a single fiscal year. By the end you will know why that rule pushes economic development toward tax credits and away from cash, and what that swap costs.
- ExplainerWorkforce & Skills
Personal income per head and the median wage measure different things
One is a mean taken over everybody, the other a middle taken over jobholders. By the end you will know why a state can look rich on one and ordinary on the other, and which question each figure answers.
- ExplainerWorkforce & Skills
What a labour shortage claim needs before anyone can test it
A shortage is a claim that a market is not clearing at a stated price. By the end you will know the five things such a claim has to name, and why the same job carries different prices in different states.
- ExplainerWorkforce & Skills
Where an occupational wage estimate comes from
An occupational wage figure is a median, drawn from a survey of employers, for jobs located in one place. By the end you will know what the number leaves out, why the top of the scale is censored, and when two figures for the same occupation are not in conflict.
- ExplainerRegional Development
How a tax-increment financing district works
A TIF district pays for public works out of the tax growth those works are meant to cause. By the end you will know what the district captures, who gives it up, and what the argument between supporters and critics is actually about.
- ExplainerRegional Development
How the jobs in an economic impact claim are counted
An announced job number is the output of a model, not a headcount. By the end you will know the three layers such a figure can contain, the difference between a job and a job-year, and what to ask before setting two claims side by side.
- ExplainerRegional Development
How state gross domestic product is measured and why the largest states dominate
State GDP counts what is produced inside a state's borders in a single year, valued at that year's prices. By the end you will know what the ranking does and does not tell you about the people who live there.