Chamber rolls out economic recovery dashboard

The Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia has launched a tool to help measure the region’s post-COVID economic recovery.

The Inclusive Growth Dashboard is a global visualization tool which measures top key indicators of the region’s economic progress including job growth, wage growth, small business growth, poverty reduction and vaccine acceptance.

Through these metrics, the dashboard will monitor macro-economic conditions in Greater Philadelphia in comparison to seven peer metropolitan areas: Atlanta, Georgia; Boston, Massachusetts; Chicago, Illinois; Dallas, Texas; Denver, Colorado; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.

“What is important is that we hope other organizations will leverage the data for their own purpose and use,” said Claire Greenwood for the Chamber.

“It’s nice to have a public source that tracks these type of big economy conditions, wage growth, job growth and poverty reduction — both on their own and in comparison to the seven peer regions that we are tracking information around.”

The dashboard will be maintained in collaboration with the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia and The Pew Charitable Trusts’ Philadelphia research and policy initiative.

“I think it’s really digging in and making sure that we’re measuring the right things because people do what is measured and that we’re doing it with full transparency so that our members and everyone in the community understands what we’re doing and whether or not we’re being successful,” said Rochelle “Chellie” Cameron, who was just named as the chamber’s next CEO.

In 2020, in light of the pandemic, the chamber and its CEO Council for Growth initiated a public private collaboration with commitments from more than 160 leaders from the business and civic communities to devise solutions for the crisis on a unified voice as the Philadelphia Regional Recharge and Recovery Task Force.

The dashboard is part of advancing the five goals for the region that were set by the leaders which include becoming a national model to learn, apprentice and work in the jobs of the future; a place known for investing in and growing small Black-and-brown-owned businesses; a digital community with increased digital literacy, technology and internet use; the healthiest and most livable community in the Northeast and a top global cell and gene therapy hub.

The dashboard will be continually updated with the latest data to provide a snapshot of current conditions, as well as provide opportunities to compare current information to recent trends.