Memphis industrial momentum is in the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) sector of Management of Enterprises. Since the 2014 release of the Brookings FOCUS economic development plan, wage concentration in Shelby County has increased 69% in the untargeted sector that pays above $100K average wages.
Brookings FOCUS targeted transportation and warehousing for decrease and agriculture, healthcare, professional technical services and manufacturing for increase. About the time that the Brookings FOCUS economic development “vision” plan was released, Tulsa, a peer city, was releasing its workforce development “implementation” plan. It worked. Tulsa increased
Since 2014, Shelby County wages in the high wage management of enterprises sector increased by 30% from $109K to $142K. Total wages paid in the sector increased by 90%. from $660M to $1.26B. The sector houses holding companies which are of the type that would host many of the real estate LLCs that benefit from tax incentives. Brookings FOCUS targeted transportation and warehousing for decrease and agriculture, healthcare, professional technical services and manufacturing for increase. But Brookings FOCUS has gone unmeasured with wage concentration growth in targeted sectors not materializing