Home--Lifelong Learning--Talent Dividend

 

 

 

The Talent Dividend is part of CEOs for Cities latest research on the City Dividends.  The City Dividends calculates the monetary value to cities and the nation of increasing college attainment rates by one percentage point (Talent Dividend); reducing vehicle miles traveled by one mile per person per day (Green Dividend); and reducing poverty rates by one percentage point (Opportunity Dividend). 

 

If each of the top 51 metros achieved these modest improvements in each of the three dividends, there would be a combined national dividend of $166 billion each year. You can download the full City Dividends report here.

 

The Talent Dividend defined: Per capita income and college attainment rates are closely correlated. Using data from 2006, each additional percentage point improvement in aggregate adult four-year college attainment is associated with a $763 increase in annual per capita income. Raising the national median of the top 51 metro areas from 29.4 percent to 30.4 percent would be associated with an increase in income of $124 billion per year for the nation.

 

Tampa Bay's Talent Dividend Summit - Resources

 

- Tampa Bay Talent Dividend Fact Sheet

- Talent Dividend Summit Presentation, Carol Coletta, CEOs for Cities

 

We know that educational attainment is the biggest predictor of success for cities and metro areas today. The research is unassailable.

The more educated a city’s population, the more robust its economy will be.  In fact, in his speech to a joint session of Congress President Obama put the issue of talent squarely on the federal agenda when he said, "The… challenge we must address is the urgent need to expand the promise of education in America. In a global economy where the most valuable skill you can sell is your knowledge, a good education is no longer just a pathway to opportunity – it is a pre-requisite.”
 

However, few urban leaders are focused on the relationship between education and the economy. In fact, producing more college-educated citizens is rarely found in any city’s economic development plan.

In a move to increase the political and civic will to produce more college graduates and thereby help cities capture real economic gains, CEOs for Cities has calculated the Talent Dividend. Increasing educational attainment, measured by raising the four-year college attainment rate by one percentage point in each of the 51 largest metropolitan areas, would be associated with an increase in per capita income of $124 billion per year for the nation. Monetizing these achievements serves as a powerful motivator to urban leaders to act urgently to achieve results.