Institute News
Published April 26, 2019
Who’s On First?
Provo scores again. The Utah city was number one for the second year in a row in the Institute’s ranking of the best-performing cities in the United States. The index, designed to identify the places where America’s jobs are created and sustained, has been published annually since 1999. This year’s findings underscore the dynamism of technology in the economy, with the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara metro jumping from 11th to 2nd in the rankings. Austin, Texas’ tech pride, scored 3rd place (up from 9th last year). San Francisco rounded out the top four.
While best performing cities can also be found in the East and Midwest, California looms with five cities among the top-25 large metros (though Utah, with its much smaller population, does even better in per capita terms with three metros in the top-25). Among small cities, Bend, Oregon stands out. To peruse the full listings, check out the Milken Institute website.
Member of the Board
In February, the U.S. Department of Commerce and the White House announced the members of the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board, set up to guide the National Council for the American Worker. Mike Piwowar, a former commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission who is now executive director of the Milken Institute’s Center for Financial Markets, was appointed to the group, which brings together experts from diverse backgrounds and organizations, including Fortune 500 companies, universities and community colleges, organized labor, nonprofits and government.
The group’s formidable task: to help create a comprehensive national workforce strategy. “I look forward to helping in the critical mission of equipping American workers to compete in the global economy,” said Piwowar. “The way to ensure that every American has an opportunity to share in prosperity will be to strengthen investment in education and workforce development.”
This Year in the Emirates
The Institute’s second annual Middle East and North Africa Summit, held in Abu Dhabi in February, brought together more than a thousand attendees and scores of speakers for two days of wide-ranging discussions. Topics included biomedical innovation, investing in Africa and building meaningful lives for refugees. With one-on-one discussions with entrepreneur and space travel pioneer Richard Branson (Virgin Galactic) and tech innovator Sean Parker (Napster, Facebook, Plaxo), there was a gusher of sparkling insight to share.
