New data visualization tool helps economic developers tell communities’ recovery stories

Emsi and eIMPACT have teamed up to help more communities tell their unique stories through visually engaging and highly customizable dashboards. While the use of data has become ubiquitous, revealing the story and insights behind the numbers remains a time-consuming challenge for many economic development organizations and communities. This problem can be solved, however, through better, more compelling data visualizations.

For economic developers, the ability to communicate data effectively can mean the difference in landing a recruitment project, receiving funding for a new initiative, or succeeding in a much needed policy change. Furthermore, COVID-19 and the ensuing economic crisis has underscored the desire for communities to articulate their unique challenges and opportunities as they develop recovery plans.

“The state of our workforce is obviously a top of mind concern right now. Organizations we talk to everyday, small and large, feel the urgency to have timely data that they can communicate effectively to a wide audience,” Erik Larson, eIMPACT’s CEO said in a statement.

The partnership has hit the ground running, with Emsi job posting and occupation salary data supporting the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce’s economic recovery dashboard. By combining labor market and job posting information with data such as foot traffic and seated diner counts, eIMPACT provides a comprehensive and real-time visual of the city’s situation. This visual helps community leaders make better, data-driven decisions.

“It couldn’t be more ideal to start our partnership with Emsi by serving the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce with an economic recovery data dashboard for New York City. While the nation’s largest city begins to reopen, we will be working with communities of all sizes and locations to help them take this sort of data-driven approach,” Larson added.