Upstate Income Growth Lagging Behind US Average
ACCELERATE! Initiative Working to Reverse the Trend
The Greenville Chamber released the third annual 2011 Regional Economic Scorecard results in May, showing a continued decline in income competitiveness for the Greenville/Upstate area, as well as some progress within several strategic sub-measures. The Chamber launched the Scorecard project in 2007 after having noticed a long-term downward trend in per capita income relative to that of the United States. To ensure the objectivity and technical accuracy of the information, the University Center for Economic Development at Clemson University was hired to conduct the research and help craft the community report.
In an effort to help the region better understand what contributes to strong income growth, authors of the report identified four major drivers of per capita income and 11 peer communities with which Greenville should compare in these areas. The intent of the Scorecard is to report objectively on the region's economic performance and to identify economic development strategies for leveraging community strengths and addressing community weaknesses. The Scorecard serves as the catalyst for engaging business and community leaders in thoughtful dialogue about progress, roadblocks and solutions to improve economic competitiveness.
Overall, the 2011 Scorecard results indicate that the area's economy continues to lag the nation as a whole in regards to personal income growth. Greenville County per capita income, a key measure of community prosperity, fell relative to the U.S. average for the eleventh consecutive year — by far the longest period of decline in Greenville's modern history. The per capita income gap between Greenville County and the national average grew to $1.65 billion annually.
In other sub-measures of economic vitality like human capital and innovation, the local economy made significant strides and gained ground versus peer communities. According to Dr. David Barkley, Clemson University Professor and Co-Director of UCED, "The Greenville metropolitan area and the S.C. Upstate showed some improvement in the 2011 Economic Scorecard, indicating that the region is better positioned to compete in the global economy than last year. However, significant gaps in measures of competitiveness remain between Greenville and the highest scoring metropolitan areas."
Getting Greenville's per capita income back up to the U.S. average would mean an additional $1.65 billion in spendable income in Greenville County a year. Closing this income gap would generate a significantly higher standard of living, increased tax revenues and greater resources for community priorities. Greenville has a proud history of reinventing itself economically, but to compete today, development efforts must be retooled.
In response to the disturbing Scorecard results in 2009, the Greenville Chamber launched ACCELERATE!, a 5-year economic development initiative to begin addressing the troubling income trend. The effort employs development strategies recommended in several studies of the Greenville economy and proven successful in other top communities. The goal is to generate economic growth by producing significant return-on-investment, leveraging growth strategies proven successful in other communities, and augment traditional business recruiting efforts by development allies.
ACCELERATE! Investor Council Co-chairs Craig Brown and Toby Stansell are leading the charge to bring area business leaders together to invest in a results-driven plan. Top investors to date include AT&T, BlueCrossBlueShield of S.C., Fluor, GE Energy, Greenville Drive ownership, area banks and hospitals.
"Economic development is about improving all the elements essential to creating and sustaining an improved quality of life for the community across a broad socioeconomic spectrum. We are working for better education, development, and legislative programs to support a demand-pull paradigm for talent, skills, and innovation driven by real-life and real-time commercial needs. This is exciting stuff, as it brings together all factions of the Upstate's communities and forces us to work together to be successful. I can't think of a better way to generate unity, singleness of purpose, and broad prosperity than the approach ACCELERATE! is taking toward our pressing socioeconomic issues," says G. T. "Toby" Stansell.
ACCELERATE! is focusing on three high-leverage areas: business environment, world-class talent, and high-impact entrepreneurship. The business-led initiative provides critical funding and leadership to development programs including NEXT, the Carolina First Center for Excellence, and the Upstate Chamber Coalition, as well as recruiting talent to the area.
"In order to create economic opportunities, the Upstate must embrace entrepreneurship and create an environment where entrepreneurs want to gather, learn and develop their ideas into businesses. We have all the necessary ingredients for entrepreneurship, including a strong focus on investing in our work force through education. ACCELERATE! is working to align the many aspects of entrepreneurship into a focused, measurable plan of action to produce results," says Craig Brown, Greenville Drive Ownership.
Learn more about ACCELERATE! at www.accelerategreenville.org. View the complete 2011 Scorecard at www.greenvillechamber.org/scorecard.php.