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    Economic Development

    What Workforce Data Should an Economic Development Organization Have Ready for Site Selectors?

    •8 min read•Michael Etheredge, VP of Product Development

    Michael Etheredge is VP of Product Development at QuestionFuel, where he leads how the firm measures and corrects the way AI answer engines describe companies. He was featured by the Southern Economic Development Council on how AI is changing the way companies research communities and regions.

    Every site selection source we reviewed for 2026 puts workforce near the top. What the sources ask for is more specific than headcount. This guide covers the figures, the public data programs that can support your numbers, and a simple way to state workforce facts once, with dates, and test them in ChatGPT.

    Key takeaways

    • Area Development's 2026 survey reports that 100% of respondents rated availability of skilled labor important or very important, and 95.5% said the same of technical talent pipelines, up from 79.7% a year earlier.
    • A site selector writing in September 2026 says current headcount is not enough and that companies want to know whether community colleges and technical programs are producing the skills targeted industries need.
    • Public programs from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Census Bureau can support occupation, wage, earnings, and commuting figures, each with its own geography and limits.
    • We found no published measurement of how accurately ChatGPT describes a community's workforce, so the practical step is to write down your figures with dates and test what it says.

    Quick answer: An economic development organization should be able to state current occupations and wages, labor flows, and the training pipeline behind them, each with a source and a date. Site selectors now ask about pipelines, not only headcount. Public data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Census Bureau can support the numbers.

    What do site selectors say about workforce in 2026?

    They say it is still the first filter, and that the definition is widening.

    Area Development's 40th Annual Corporate and 22nd Annual Consultant Site Selection Survey, published in Q1 2026, reports that availability of skilled labor "retained its position at the very top of the survey rankings, cited by 100% of respondents as important or very important." It reports that the depth of technical talent pipelines, including community colleges and trade schools, "came in at 95.5%, up sharply from 79.7% a year ago."

    Alex Miller of KSM Advisers adds in the survey, "Labor cost and availability continue to play a major role in site selection because they affect how quickly a project can get up and running and how competitive it will be over time."

    These are survey results about what respondents say they weigh. They do not show how often a community is eliminated for workforce reasons.

    Why is headcount not enough?

    Because the sources describe the pipeline as the evidence.

    Danielle Campolo of Strategic Development Group, writing in Area Development on September 23, 2026, says "Talent availability isn't a soft factor. It's a hard filter." She asks, "Are community colleges and technical programs producing the skills needed for targeted industries?" and whether existing industry is satisfied with the workforce programs in place, or whether there are gaps companies have been "quietly working around." Her view of the best evidence of a strong future workforce is "a solid relationship between economic developers and their education partners, with regular, candid conversations about what's working and what isn't."

    The survey text makes a related point. Gigerich, a consultant quoted in it, describes a need for more associate degrees and industry recognized credentials and certifications, and the survey article names welders, machinists, and automation technicians as examples of the credentials that matter.

    For an organization, this means a workforce answer has two parts: what the labor market looks like today, and what the training system will produce.

    What workforce data can an organization state with a source?

    Public programs cover the first part well. The second part comes from your education partners.

    What you want to statePublic sourceWhat the source says it coversLimit
    Employment and wages by occupationBureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage StatisticsAnnual employment and wage estimates for approximately 830 occupations, for the nation, states, and metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areasCheck the area and reference year before you quote a number. The page links a news release dated May 15, 2026 on May 2025 data
    Employment, job creation, and earnings by industry and areaCensus Bureau, Quarterly Workforce IndicatorsEmployment, job creation, earnings, and other measures of employment flows by firm and worker characteristics, tabulated to states, metropolitan and micropolitan areas, counties, and Workforce Investment Board areasConfirm the latest quarter available for your area
    Where workers live and workCensus Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment StatisticsOrigin and destination, residence area, and workplace area files at census block detailThe Census page says data is available for most states, so confirm yours
    Training pipeline and employer satisfactionYour colleges, technical programs, and employersPrograms, completions, and gaps, as reported by the institutions and firmsGet the figures in writing and date them

    The Economic Development Administration's guidance for regional economic development strategies points to the same family of sources. Its workforce section lists the Bureau of Labor Statistics, STATS America, and CareerOneStop as resources, and says workforce efforts should be employer led and should measure outcomes such as employment and earnings. That guidance is written for regional planning documents, not for site selection responses, so read it as supporting context.

    How should the data be presented?

    As conclusions with dates, not as attachments.

    Lindsey Cannon of Quest Site Solutions, writing in Area Development on August 26, 2026, says that in her example of an evaluator reviewing 30 sites in the initial stage, there is no time to become an expert on each one, and that communities should distill information into "an organized, digestible format that answers the most important questions immediately." She also says discrepancies across submitted information make a property harder to evaluate. Her examples concern sites and due diligence reports, such as stating the year a study was completed and its conclusion. We apply the same principle to workforce facts. That application is ours, not hers.

    A workforce entry might read: "Occupation wage estimates for the metropolitan area, Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 reference period, checked October 30, 2026." The point is the pattern: figure, source, reference period, date checked.

    How can you check what ChatGPT says about your workforce?

    Write the entries first, then compare.

    1. •Write a one page workforce record. Include occupation and wage figures, earnings and job flow figures, commuting figures, training programs, and a named contact at each partner institution. Add a source and date to each line.
    2. •Write three prompts a site selector might type. For example: "What is the availability of skilled manufacturing labor in [community] for a 500 employee facility?"
    3. •Run each prompt three times in new chats. One run is one sample.
    4. •Mark every statement a match, a gap, or an error. A match agrees with your record. A gap leaves out a fact that matters. An error states something your record does not support.
    5. •Fix the source of any error and test again.

    This is the Detect step of the DRIFT Framework. An old unemployment figure or a closed training program still described as open is an example of AI Narrative Drift. We found no published measurement of how accurately ChatGPT describes a community's workforce, so we cannot say how often it is wrong.

    When is this not the right approach?

    It is not the right first step when the underlying programs do not exist yet.

    If the community has no training partnership with employers, Campolo's questions point to the work to do first: build the relationship with education partners and learn where current employers see gaps. Business retention and expansion programs, which we cover in a companion guide this week, are one way to hear from existing employers.

    Also, do not publish a number you cannot support. If public data for your area is limited or out of date, say what you have and when it was checked, and note what you are collecting.

    Frequently asked questions

    What is the single most important workforce fact to state?

    The sources we reviewed do not rank individual facts. The survey places availability of skilled labor first, and Campolo says the training pipeline is what companies need beyond headcount. State both.

    Where do occupation and wage figures come from?

    The Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program publishes annual estimates for approximately 830 occupations. Check the geography it offers for your community.

    Can we use commuting data to describe our labor shed?

    The Census Bureau's LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics describe where workers live and where they work at census block detail, in most states. Confirm the years available for your state.

    Do site selectors check what ChatGPT says about workforce?

    We do not know. One consultant argues in Area Development that assistants now read about communities before an RFI is drafted, as we cover in our business attraction guide. The article gives no data.

    Sources and references

    Related reading: What Is Business Attraction? What to Have Ready at Each Stage · How to Prepare for Site Screening Before the RFI · How to Audit What AI Says About Your Region

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