Industry and Workforce Studies

Development Research Partners provides specialized research projects including industry cluster research, industry trends analysis, workforce issues studies, and strategic competitive analysis.

Recent Projects include:

Metro Denver and Northern Colorado Key Industry Clusters

On-going since 2001

There are nine key industry clusters operating in the nine-county Metro Denver and Northern Colorado region. Constant monitoring of current trends in the industries helps to identify prevailing business cycles so that efforts related to the industries can be shifted strategically. At some points, these clusters present opportunities for recruitment and growth. At other points, economic development efforts should be focused on retention of the companies and their employment base. This on-going industry cluster effort includes numerous components ranging from providing research and assistance in the creation of widely-distributed marketing materials to the development of internal market intelligence to be used in conjunction with deal-specific activities. Click here to download the Aerospace Industry Profile or get all of the industry reports at the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp.'s website.

2007 Denver Regional Workforce Gap Analysis
September 2007
Metro Denver, including the City and County of Denver, has diverse employment. Some industries are currently experiencing occupational gaps in employment. Understanding gaps in local labor supply and demand by industry can assist the Metro Denver region’s employee and business recruitment efforts. After evaluating Metro Denver’s workforce supply (residents) and workforce demand (employees), the gap analysis attempts to bring both pieces together to explain where the opportunities and challenges for employment by occupation will occur over the next four years.

Metro Denver WIRED Workforce Study
May 2007
The development of four of Metro Denver’s high growth, high tech industries is the focus of the Metro Denver Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) Initiative. This study analyzed the workforce demand needs of these industries through primary and secondary data collection to understand the issues facing businesses regarding the most in-demand occupations, important workforce skills, useful hiring methods, and training and education needs.