EAST LANSING, Mich., Jan. 24 (UPI) -- The job-creation mantra in some U.S. cities -- "If you build it, they will come" -- may not work, a researcher says, and may in fact be completely backwards.
There is a long-held belief among some planners that job growth attracts people to urban areas but a study by Michigan State University sociologist Zachary Neal found the opposite to be true -- that bringing the people in first, specifically, airline passengers traveling on business, leads to a fairly significant increase in jobs -- a university release reported Monday.
"The findings indicate that people come first, then the jobs," Neal said. "It's just the opposite of an 'If you build it, they will come' sort of an approach."
Neal looked at the number of business air-travel passengers in major U.S. cities from 1993 to 2008 and said he found business passengers destined for a city and not just passing through are a key to job growth.
Attracting business travelers to a city for meetings and other business activities by offering an easily accessible airport and other amenities such as hotels and conference centers is one of the best ways to create new jobs, Neal said.
Construction of office and retail spaces does often lead to new jobs for people already living in the area, Neal said, but is not likely to attract business travelers to the area.
Attracting new people to a city leads to job growth, whereas "if you built it" might spur job growth but does not attract new people, he said.
"One might expect to see a bump up in jobs first, and then a year or two later an increase in business passenger traffic," Neal said. "But we saw just the opposite. There was a bump up in business traffic and then about a year later a bump up in jobs. The business passengers were coming before the jobs did, rather than after."
