Leading Indicators

Since 2019 the Economy League has produced a regular data brief designed to deepen understanding of key regional trends.  LI provides  digestible, accessible analysis of data on timely topics such as regional economic trends, local labor and housing markets, and the business ecosystem.  

highlighted blue orange red graph of Philadelphia

The Latest Leading Indicators

Leading Indicators
The Color of Inequality Part 2: Race, Place, and Crime
By: Mike Shields & Mohona Siddique Date: June 4, 2020 AUTHORS' NOTE: As the country was buckling under the weight of the COVID-19 pandemic, the widely...
Leading Indicators
The Color of Inequality Part 1: Housing and the Built Environment
By: Mike Shields & Mohona Siddique Date: June 4, 2020 AUTHORS' NOTE: As the country was buckling under the weight of the COVID-19 pandemic, the widely...
Leading Indicators
COVID-19: The Real Retail Apocalypse?
With the potential for numerous “nonessential” store re-openings in the coming months, we look at the size and composition of Philadelphia’s retail...
Leading Indicators
Greater Philadelphia’s Healthcare Industry and the COVID-19 Pandemic
Greater Philadelphia’s large and robust healthcare industry has long been a vital economic asset. The centrality of this sector has only been...
Leading Indicators
Institutional Spend and the Potential for Small & Diverse Business Recovery after the Pandemic
Eds-and-Meds Spending is Large, but More Could be Localized According to data compiled and analyzed by the City Controller’s Office in 2015 , the 34...
Leading Indicators
Philadelphia's Construction Restart During the Pandemic
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the City of Philadelphia was in the midst of a construction boom . However, with Governor Wolf’s March 20 order to...
Leading Indicators
The Impact of COVID-19 on Philly’s Latinx/Hispanic Community
The Impact of COVID-19 on Philly’s Latinx Community In a previous Leading Indicator, we examined the social determinants of health that have...
Leading Indicators
COVID-19 and Greater Philadelphia's Tech Workforce
Across the U.S, the COVID-19 pandemic has to date wiped out roughly the same number of jobs that were created since the Great Recession . In previous...
Leading Indicators
The Impact of COVID-19 on Philly’s African American Community
A recent report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has shown that the COVID-19 virus is affecting Black Americans more...
Leading Indicators
COVID-19 and Greater Philadelphia’s Small Businesses
The mandated social distancing and closure of non-essential businesses in response to the COVID-19 pandemic have disproportionately affected the...
Leading Indicators
COVID-19 and Philadelphia’s Food Economy
With statewide closures of non-essential businesses and mandated social distancing resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, many of the region’s food...
Leading Indicators
The Economic Impact of COVID-19: Philadelphia’s Working Poor and ‘On-The-Edge’ Populations
EDITOR’S NOTE: During this unprecedented time of disruption and uncertainty, the Economy League’s Leading Indicators newsletter will provide a series...
Leading Indicators
Greater Philadelphia's Declining Transit Ridership
In January, CityLab detailed declines in quarterly transit ridership from 2018 to 2019 in several major U.S. metropolitan areas . Apart from...
Leading Indicators
A Snapshot of Philadelphia’s Part-Time Workforce
For this Leading Indicator, we continue our focus on Philadelphia’s workforce – in particular, we look at Philadelphia’s part-time employment...
Leading Indicators
Why Haven't Philly Wages Increased with Employment Levels (Part 2)
In the last issue of Leading Indicators , we showed that Philadelphia’s wage growth has lagged employment levels in recent years. We hypothesized as...
Sign up for the Leading Indicators newsletter
Explore Leading Indicators newsletter archive

Have any questions or additional input on a Leading Indicator?

Send us your thoughts.