Regional Economic Analysis Outline

Phase 1: Regional Overview and General Economic Inventory

Guidelines for doing this project phase:The purpose of this phase of the project is to develop a basic and general overview of your region and the economic activities therein (note title of outline). At this point you do not need to collect detailedinformation on most topics included in the outline, and in constructing the Phase 1 report you should keep your narratives brief and to the point and your supplementary information (lists, maps, tables) simple. I repeat, keep things brief and simple. Also, do not go outside the scope of the outline unless you have a very good reason to do so.

Notes:(1) Outline items in italics should be included in the report only if there are significant features or activities of the types indicated. (2) See file “Example Data 1 Region X” Table 1 for recommended format and template for compiling and presenting population, land area, labor force, and income data under I and II, below.

I. Location and general description of region

A.Identify region by county names and describe location in context of the state. Note major cities in counties and county seats. Note size of region and counties (in sq. miles).

B.Note (1) major highways that transect region

(2) railroads that serve region (note if freight service only, or freight plus Amtrak passenger service)

(3) commercial airports in region (if any), or nearest major commercial airport

(4) water features in region – i.e., significant rivers, canals, lakes or impoundments, estuaries. Note if any of these waterways are used for commercial watercraft traffic and if there are any commercial ports. Note any water features that are heavily used for recreational activities.

C.Mapwork – provide maps that depict the information summarized above

Sources: State and county maps, atlases, and gazetteers. County and city government websites, city Chamber of Commerce websites. Also see census website map source note under II, A, below. (For land area of counties, see source under II, A, below.)

For railroad information (Part I, B (2))

Get onto

Click on “Quick Links”

Click on “North Carolina Rail Map”

The state railroad map opens as a PDF file, which you can enlarge and move around to read the railroads that serve your region.

II. Population, incomes, and human services

  1. Population of total region, counties, and major cities, and population density (avg. persons per sq. mi.) in counties and for the region
  2. Average annual per-capita income by county and for the region
  3. Estimated total size of labor force and unemployment rate by county and for the region and state
  4. Advanced educational resources in region – e.g., vocational / technical programs, community / junior colleges, undergraduate and graduate colleges or universities (assume a system for public education through 12th grade)
  5. Major health services resources of region (hospitals, clinics, and similar); major social services resources of region (if any)
  6. Tabular data (if appropriate) – provide simple tables or lists that detail information summarized above

Sources: For Part II, A – Go to

1. On the main page, click “Search”

2. Click “State & County QuickFacts”

3. Select North Carolina

4. Select a county and click “GO”.

Yields estimated 2008 county population (at top of table) and land area of county (at bottom of table). Note that this table also shows the same data for the state. Use the 2008 population estimate and land area to calculate a county’s population density (persons per square mile).

5. At the top of the county page, use the “Cities” box to access 2006 population estimates for major cities. (You can go a step further to get year 2000 population data for smaller cities/towns not listed in the “Cities” list noted above – use the “place search” function above the “Select a city” box; check with me if you have any problems doing this.)

Note that the “Geography” line on the main page of contains links to a variety of map resources.

For Part II, B – Near the top right of the county page, click the “Browse data sets for . . . “ link. In the People Quicklinks section, click “Economic Characteristics.”

Yieldsyear 2000 average per capita income in the county (in the “Families” subsection of the table). Then use a population-weighted averaging calculation to compute the region’s average per capita income (we will discuss this in class).

For Part II, C – Go to

1. Point on Unemployment and select State and local unemployment rates

2. Next, select LAU Tables

3. Scroll down to CountyData, Tables

4. Scroll toLabor force data by county, 2007 annual averages and select TXT

5. Scroll down to N.C. data, find your counties, and for each county record the data for (1) labor force, (2) employment, (3) unemployment level (#), and (4) unemployment rate (%)

For North Carolina data

6. Do steps 1, immediately above

7. Under Annual regional and state unemployment select Regional and state unemployment (annual) releases

8. Select 2007 (PDF); scroll down to Table 1 and record North Carolina labor force, employment, unemployment, and unemployment rate data

For Part II, D, E – County and city government websites, city Chamber of Commerce websites. University, college, and community college websites. Hospital and county health department websites.

III. Natural resources and land use

  1. Briefly describe the topography / landforms of the region and its general climate.
  2. Characterize land use patterns in the region – i.e., is each county (i) urbanized / developed, (ii) rural, or (iii) a mixture of urban / developed and rural.
  3. Note any significant areas of public (government) owned land and note

the type of public ownership and general use of this land.

  1. Note any significant mineral resources that occur within the region and briefly comment on the extent to which these are presently utilized.
  2. Note any situations that may limit land use or resource utilization (e.g., extremely rugged terrain, swamps, extreme climate, etc.)
  3. Mapwork – provide maps that depict significant information summarized in B – E, above.

Sources:For Part III, A – Search “North Carolina geography” and check out the most promising hits.

For Part III, B – This can be a general characterization of land use, based on the obvious evidence.

For instance, looking at a highway map, one can quickly see that the city of Raleigh and its suburbs cover a substantial portion of WakeCounty. Ditto for Charlotte in MecklenburgCounty. I would characterize counties such as these “highly urbanized and developed” in terms of land use allocation.

By contrast, PenderCounty (which lies just north of the city of Wilmington) has no notable population centers. I would characterize this county as “rural, comprising almost entirely agricultural, forest, and undeveloped land.”

What about in-between situations? I would describe PittCounty, for instance, as “predominantly rural (agricultural, forest, and undeveloped land), but with a significant area of urban and other developed land mainly in and around the city of Greenville.”

Look at the information you have, think about it, and come up with a sentence or two that tells the reader the general nature of land use in your counties.

For Part III, C, D, E – by the time you get here, you will probably have a good idea if there is anything relevant to report and will be able to work out your own salvation.

IV.Overview of the regional economy

A.Collect, organize, and summarize data on economic activities by county and for the region. Do this by 2-digit NAICS codes only. For each 2-digit activity, include data on number of establishments, number of employees, and annual payrolls for the year 2007.

Organize tabular data as indicated in the file “Example Data 1 Region X,” Table 2. Calculate and show grand totals for the region and counties at the top of the table. Under that, show the regional totals for each 2-digit activity, with individual county data shown under the regional totals.

Summary narrative – note grand totals and activity group totals for major economic variables shown in tables. Note any particular 2-digit activities that stand out.

B.Agricultural land use and production receipts: note total land area in farms and total agricultural receipts and (for each county and the region); calculate farm land as a percentage of the total land area of the region – see “Example Data 1 Region X,” Table 3. Also, put these statistics in context by comparing the region’s total agricultural receipts with NAICS total payrolls, for the region and by individual counties (see lower part of Example Table 3).

Sources; For Part IV, A – On the site

  1. Click on Business & Industry
  2. Under “Other Economic Programs” click on County Business Patterns
  3. Click the arrow by the “Select a state” box, scroll to North Carolina, select it, and click GO
  4. Click the arrow by “North Carolina”, select a county, and click Submit

Yields 2007 County Business Patterns data for the county by NAICS 2-digit industry code, including (a) Industry code and description, (b) number of employees (mid-March), (c) 1st quarter payroll (we won’t use this), (d) annual payroll ($1,000s), and

(e) number of establishments.

Note: When you open these tables, I recommend that you copy-paste the data mentioned in (a) through (e), above,into an Excel file. Then you can clean up the raw table for each county so that you can copy-paste the industry rows for each county into a common table for your region (e.g., Example Table 2, Region X).

For Part IV, B-Get onto and click “Divisions”; then click

“Ag statistics”; next click “County overview”; then on the map or from the county list, click on the county you want. Use the 2008total cash receipts and 2007total acres in county and total land in farms data from these pages as indicated in the outline, above.

V.Unique activities or features: Note any activities or situations within the region that are unique or unusual, and which have (or may have in the future) significant effects on the regional economy.

Sources: Be alert for anything that might fall into this category when you browse county, city, and Chamber of Commerce websites. (Some of this information may have been mentioned earlier, but may bear repeating or emphasizing in this section.)

GW ZinnDecember 2009

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