How one state measures post-pandemic recovery

GettyImages/ MarsYu

 

Connecting state and local government leaders

Economic leaders in New Jersey can see indicators and contextualize metrics with a solution that combines government, geographic and third-party economic data into an interactive dashboard.

New Jersey’s Office of Information Technology has turned to data to get a better handle on the state’s post-pandemic economy and determine how best to deploy American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds.

The state went live last month with Tyler Technologies’ Economic Intelligence solution, which combines consumer spending, mobility and small-business data from aggregators such as SafeGraph and Affinity Solutions with existing data on permitting, business licensing, and property and sales tax revenue collection, for instance, in Tyler’s Data and Insights platform.

To be useful, the data must be up-to-date and granular, meaning at the industry-sector level. “Are people in our community spending their money on retail? Are they spending it on health and fitness?” said Saf Rabah, vice president of data solutions at Tyler. “From the perspective of local government leaders, it’s important to pinpoint those businesses or those groups of businesses that may be experiencing a surge or a downturn in economic activity.”

The data must also be granular at the geographic level, so Economic Intelligence looks at it at the census track level. “We also have the opportunity to tie in Census data and marry it to this economic data so we can understand big, important issues such as equity,” Rabah said.

The solution surfaces all the economic data in an out-of-the-box dashboard that lets users drill through indicators and contextualize metrics. For instance, a city council member can assess the impact of a program to support restaurants, or an agency analyst can look at cities, counties or the state to see changes in year-over-year consumer spending across several categories.

“The pandemic has significantly impacted small business revenue and consumer spending habits, and we needed a tool that would help us easily analyze how these metrics have impacted our state’s overall economic picture,” Poonam Soans, New Jersey’s chief data officer, said in a press release. Economic Intelligence “gives our leadership a single, comprehensive view of the critical third-party data that is central to our economic recovery and understanding the ways in which New Jersey’s recovery from COVID-19 progresses.”

The state estimated in 2021 that it lost 30% of its small businesses in 2020. New Jersey extended its fiscal year by three months in 2020 because of revenue shortfalls, which officials said in August 2020 could hit $20 billion by the end of 2021.

Through ARPA’s Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund, New Jersey counties and municipalities will get $3.6 billion – funding that must be tracked and accounted for to ensure that it is being used responsibly and within the act’s requirements.

The idea behind Economic Intelligence is to bridge the gap between the availability of economic data at the federal and local levels, Rabah said, while enabling all governments to gain access to such information without needing an analyst to create reports.

“We saw an opportunity to bridge the gap and provide economic signals in an easy-to-consume, easy-to-access, completely out-of-the-box experience for customers who otherwise would not get those signals working for them,” he said.

But tools like Economic Intelligence have utility beyond the health crisis and related funding, Rabah added. Every city, county and state has an economic development plan that includes investments, resource allocation and tracking funds. To support that, officials must be able to understand what industries or communities need the most help and what results came of any intervention.

“What we found is that that data is just useful pre-pandemic, post-pandemic and probably in perpetuity because it provides those rich signals” about where people are spending money, what they’re buying and the health of the small-business community, he said. That kind of information – even about how are people and cars moving about --  can affect policy decisions about transportation, parking and urban design, he said.

Stephanie Kanowitz is a freelance writer based in northern Virginia. 

NEXT STORY: NYC launches climate dashboard

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.