Where Jobs are Concentrating and Why It Matters to Cities and Regions

Hence this report, which aims to help leaders understand how, and how much, changing demands for place are influencing the clustering of jobs both across and within metropolitan areas. The findings suggest a need for them to embrace policies and investment strategies that advance more concentrated growth patterns, while also supporting transformative placemaking solutions that help such dense places become vibrant communities where businesses and workers thrive.
The report proceeds by first exploring density’s important role in the economic growth, civic health and participation, and environmental sustainability of metropolitan areas. It then defines the methods used to explore job density trends in metropolitan America before describing how they played out over the period from 2004 to 2015, a decade of dramatic economic change. To this end, it traces the shifting distribution of jobs in America’s large metro areas during this time, examines the influence of various industry sectors on those patterns, and explores the different types of communities within regions where the clustering of employment increased or declined. In doing so, this analysis provides greater insight into how the relationship between place and economy continues to evolve, and what this might mean for cities and regions seeking to harness these trends to drive more equitable and sustainable economic growth in the digital age.

Chad Shearer, Jennifer S. Vey, and Joanne Kim

June 2019

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