Annual Meeting: It was great to “see” many of you at our Annual Meeting this Tuesday morning. Maybe next year we can be in person?? We heard some great remarks from Dr. Shane Needham and Dr. Mitch Johnson of Veloxity Labs on why they chose Greater Peoria to launch their business and the reception they’ve received so far. (A special thanks to Dr. Needham for speaking to us at 5:30 am his time in Idaho.) The core of the meeting, though, was sharing all the great work of the GPEDC team in 2021 and the plans for 2022. We’ve compiled our strategy reports which give a great synopsis of this work. You can read them here.
November Jobs Report: Last week I shared some information about the November unemployment numbers that had been released right before Christmas. The news was good, but I’m always cautious with these month-to-month fluctuations. Also released was the jobs report which estimates the number of jobs within a region by industry. The news here is also pretty good. From the chart below you can see a total increase of 2,500 jobs over the last year. The biggest gains were +1,600 in manufacturing, +900 in Education and Health Services and +800 in Leisure and Hospitality (but note that includes a -300 change between October and November 2021). The biggest loser was Retail Trade showing a decrease of 1,300 jobs. That sector is likely a victim of the continued shift to on-line shopping. There was a month-to-month bump of +200 that I assume was connected to the seasonality of holiday shopping. More great information like this on our DataHub.
gBeta Pitch Night: I mentioned the great gBeta Distillery Labs pitch night that was held last week in Peoria Heights. The first cohort of five aspiring startups gave 5 minute presentations on their companies. If you weren’t able to attend, you can watch a replay of the pitches here. Recruitment of for the next cohort of companies starts now.
Have a great weekend!
Chris