As the International Economic Development Council approaches its Centennial, it’s worth pausing to name a quiet truth: economic development has never been just about deals. It has always been about people—how communities create opportunity, how families build stability, and how regions compete and prosper over time. 

For much of the last century, the field’s “scoreboard” reflected the priorities of the era: jobs created, capital investment secured, companies recruited, facilities built. Those metrics still matter. Communities need employment, business growth, and tax base. But today, those traditional indicators are no longer enough. Modern economic development has expanded—by necessity—into a more integrated practice that overlaps with workforce development, housing, transportation, small business ecosystems, and even health and well-being.

That evolution is a sign of progress. It reflects a broader recognition that prosperity is not produced by recruitment alone, and that labor markets don’t function in a vacuum. Workers’ ability to take a job—and stay in it—depends on predictable schedules, reliable child care, safe commutes, and pathways to advancement. Employers’ ability to grow depends on talent pipelines, retention, productivity, and a community where people want to live. In other words: economic development outcomes increasingly hinge on the quality of work itself.

The next scoreboard: not just “how many jobs,” but “what kind of jobs—and for whom”

The best economic developers have already begun shifting from blunt outputs to deeper outcomes: Who benefits? What barriers persist? Are we expanding opportunity or inadvertently widening gaps? These questions are not political—they’re practical. They go to the heart of whether a region’s growth strategy is durable.

This is where job quality becomes essential. Job quality is not a slogan; it is a measurable set of conditions that shape workers’ economic security and upward mobility—pay and benefits, scheduling and stability, working conditions, culture and job design, and opportunities to build skills and advance. (WorkRise Network) 

When we treat “jobs” as the primary goal without attending to job quality, we risk optimizing for activity rather than impact. A region can announce record job creation while households remain financially fragile, turnover remains high, and local employers struggle to fill positions.

Conversely, when job quality improves, communities often see compounding benefits: stronger labor force attachment, greater stability for families, and a more resilient regional economy.

Why job quality belongs at the center of economic development practice

WorkRise—an Urban Institute–based research-to-action network focused on economic mobility—has argued that the intersection of workforce development and economic development is where the next generation of solutions must be built. Their synthesis of research and practice highlights a growing appetite to better align these systems, strengthen pipelines, and focus more explicitly on “good jobs” and worker-centered outcomes. (WorkRise Network)

This is not an abstract shift. It reflects what communities experience on the ground: traditional business incentives may move firms, but evidence on broad-based benefits—especially for lower-wage workers—is mixed, and regions are experimenting with newer approaches that connect economic development tools to job quality, worker voice, and shared prosperity. (WorkRise Network) 

Job quality is also a modernization strategy. Employers increasingly compete on retention and talent—not only recruitment. Economic developers who can help regional partners improve job quality can strengthen competitiveness in a way that sticks: better matches between people and jobs, lower churn, and more productivity gains over time.

From strategy to practice: what job-quality economic development looks like

Making job quality a north star doesn’t mean economic developers become HR departments. It means we align incentives, partnerships, and accountability so that growth translates into mobility. Here are several practical moves communities can make:

1) Tie incentives to outcomes that matter.
Many places are exploring ways to connect public support to wage floors, benefits access, predictable scheduling, advancement pathways, and local hiring pipelines—paired with measurement and transparency. The goal is not to overregulate business; it’s to ensure public investments deliver public value. 

2) Design “wraparound alignment,” not just workforce programs.
Workforce strategies are stronger when they acknowledge real constraints—child care, transportation, and scheduling. If we want more people to complete training and succeed at work, economic development partners can help coordinate the ecosystem so supports and job demand align. (WorkRise Network)

3) Build sector strategies that prioritize advancement, not placement alone.
Sector partnerships can be structured to support progression: entry routes, stackable credentials, wage growth, and career navigation. When job quality is explicit, sector strategies become pathways to mobility, not just pipelines into low-wage churn.

4) Adopt better measurement—and share it.
Urban Institute research emphasizes that standard job metrics often miss critical job quality elements like scheduling, nonwage benefits, culture, job design, and forward prospects. If we can’t measure what matters, we can’t manage it. (Urban Institute)

The Centennial challenge: a new definition of “win”

A century ago, economic development helped communities industrialize, attract capital, and build modern regional economies. The next century’s challenge is different: to build prosperity that is resilient, widely shared, and tied to real mobility.

Job quality offers a unifying framework for this next era. It’s a bridge between employers’ needs and communities’ aspirations. It connects economic development to workforce development in a way that is measurable, actionable, and directly linked to how families experience the economy—not just how we report it. 

If the 20th century was defined by recruitment and growth, the 21st will be defined by whether growth translates into thriving. Putting job quality at the center is how we make that translation real.

Todd Greene is vice president of the Work, Education, and Labor Division at the Urban Institute. He also serves as the executive director of WorkRise, an innovative research-to-action network focused on jobs, workers, and mobility hosted by the Urban Institute.