Key Issues: Competitiveness

The Bay Area competes in the national and global economies, and leads in knowledge-based industries. Its high productivity, global connections and strength in innovation afford a unique base for future growth. Issues such as housing supply, transportation, and cost-of-living, however, pose challenges that impact that potential, and require leadership and joint action by the public and private sectors.

• Sustaining the Bay Area’s Competitiveness in a Globalizing World
  Bay Area Economic Profile
   —April 2008 (PDF: 47 pages, 3.5 MB)*
  
  Every two years, with support from McKinsey & Company, the Economic Institute produces the Bay Area Economic Profile report. First published in 1996, the series profiles the performance of the regional economy against other major metropolitan economies in the United States, discusses trends and sources of structural change, and assesses strengths and weaknesses that impact regional economic performance.
  Sixth in the series, this Economic Profile report is a detailed and data-rich examination of the factors that drive the Bay Area's highly productive economy and make it a global destination for talented people, productive businesses, and innovative research institutions.

• Human Capital in the Bay Area: Why an Educated, Flexible Workforce Is Vital to Our Economic Future
  —February 2008 (PDF: 68 pages, 730 KB)*
  
  Human capital, commonly understood as the collective level of education, skill and experience of the region’s labor force, is one of the most fundamental building blocks of high-value-added economies. This report analyzes indicators of human capital in the Bay Area, and identifies what is unique or distinctive about Bay Area workers.

• The Innovation Economy: Protecting the Talent Edge
  Bay Area Economic Profile
   —February 2006 (PDF: 64 pages, 975 KB)*
  
  Fifth in the Economic Profile series, this report finds that the Bay Area has transformed itself, emerging from the recent high-tech boom and bust, but cautions that it urgently needs more pathbreaking solutions and investment in education, housing, and infrastructure to secure the foundation for future success.

• Visas for Higher Education and Scientific Exchanges: Balancing Security and Economic Competitiveness
  —April 2005 (PDF: 18 pages, 369 KB)*
  
  A discussion about the impact on economic competitiveness of visas and immigration policies implemented since 9/11, particularly as they impact graduate students and scientists coming to this country from overseas.

• One Million Jobs at Risk:
  The Future of Manufacturing in California
  —March 2005 (PDF: 30 pages, 352 KB)*
  
  California is the nation’s largest manufacturing state, but over one million production jobs are at risk of moving overseas or to other states if it fails to develop a strategy to keep them. This report calls for a joint effort, and specific actions, by businesses and government to preserve a competitive manufacturing base.

• The Future of Bay Area Jobs: The Impact of Offshoring and Other Key Trends
  —July 2004 (PDF: 44 pages, 601 KB)*
  
  Bay Area industries are both leading and responding to the national trend toward the offshoring of manufacturing and business services. A joint report by the Bay Area Economic Forum, Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network, and the Stanford Project on Regions of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, with support from A.T. Kearney, assesses the impact of offshoring on the Bay Area’s job market, fields in which the region is competitively weak, and fields in which it enjoys a strong competitive advantage.

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