How do we determine whether we as a region are making progress towards the goals and objectives articulated in this plan? How can we tell whether we are advancing towards greater prosperity, resilience, and quality of life? Much of our sense of this does and should come from everyday experience and the conversations we have with neighbors, friends, and colleagues. Are we seeing our young people flocking to or departing from our communities? Is demand up or down for food assistance? Are businesses opening or shuttering?

While our personal experiences and anecdotal accounts are important for grounding our understanding of the regional economy and whether we’re heading the right direction, quantitative indicators are also essential to an effective evaluation framework. Good data helps economic development stakeholders better evaluate whether implementation of projects and strategies identified in the CEDS are correlated with positive movement in the regional economy.

That being said, constructing a list of indicators that’s manageable to track on an ongoing basis, where data is readily available, and at the same time capture a broad range of economic goals and objectives is challenging. No list of indicators can be considered “complete.” With this caveat in mind, the following are indicators intended to help measure, in broad strokes, progress towards realizing Our Economy.

1. Labor force size. Our region’s aging and shrinking workforce is one its most significant economic headwinds, with many employers struggling to find the workers they need to sustain or expand operations. Our ability to retain major employers and to support a thriving small business sector hinges in large part on growing the labor force by all means necessary: building exciting career pathways for local highschoolers, holding onto students studying at local institutions of higher education, expanding childcare options for parents who’d like to re(enter) the workforce, attracting skilled talent from other parts of the country (and world).
2. New housing units permitted. Growing the labor force will require expanding housing opportunities for young people who would like to stay in the region as well as prospective workers who would like to move here. These workers will be looking for a variety of housing types: single family homes, condominiums, rental apartments, manufactured homes, and more. Tracking the number of unit permitted—broken out by basic structure type—will provide a rough sense of housing units in the pipeline and whether the pace of construction is adequate to meet regional needs.
3. Assessed property value per capita. Property value is the primary stock of wealth from which local governments in New Hampshire generate revenue to support public services like education, fire rescue, road maintenance, and welfare assistance. Assessed property value can increase due to market conditions, development activity, or both. A decrease in value either necessitates an increase in tax rates or a reduction in public services. The assessed property value per capita for a region may be considered an approximate indicator of its capacity to deliver public services to residents. Additionally, it serves as a benchmark for evaluating local governments’ resilience in responding to fiscal challenges, such as disaster-related events and devolved public expenditures.
4. Percent of households earning a living wage. There are many different ways to measure the economic wellbeing of a population. A conventional measure, such as median income, only tells you what an average household earns, not whether they can afford minimum basic needs. The concept of a living wage has gain traction and methodological rigor in recent years, due in large part to the work of the MIT Living Wage Institute.
5. Licensed child care slots. Like housing, affordable and high-quality childcare is essential for meeting the region’s overall workforce needs. Many parents, especially mothers, are locked out of the labor force because they cannot find or afford child care. According to analysis by both St. Anslem College and Abt Associates, the Monadnock Region lacks a sufficient number of licensed child care slots in order to meet the needs of local families.
6. Major employers retained. As discussed in the issue brief on economic resilience, just over 40 firms in Cheshire County employ approximately 40 percent of individuals working in the region. It is essential that these anchor institutions can access the workforce they need so that they can thrive and remain in the region.
7. New business starts. At the other end of spectrum, creating the conditions where local entrepreneurs can thrive and launch new businesses is also essential to a thriving regional economy. Tracking firm creation will be an important way to evaluate whether the region is meeting its goals on this front.