Urban Investment Strategies Center
Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise
Iceberg Demographics

Iceberg Demographic Workforce Barriers and Constraints: A Preliminary Assessment

Today’s working age population is beset by a host of invisible workforce and workplace barriers which are analogous to the submerged part of a freshwater iceberg.

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Key U.S. Population And Household Challenges: The First Four Months of Trump 2.0

Jul 1, 2026 • Publication

Census Bureau Household Trends and Outlook Pulse Survey data covering the first four months of Trump 2.0 reveal a sharp decline in confidence in The Presidency as an institution; and a significant increase in the levels of U.S. household distress over job loss, escalating prices, caregiver constraints, transportation barriers, food insecurity, and threats of foreclosure and eviction. Policies, programs, and practices to address these issues are outlined.
NC - Raleigh

Demographically Targeted Approaches to Community Economic Development in North Carolina

Sep 1, 2022 • Kenan Insight

North Carolina’s 100 counties have experienced an uneven pattern of growth and development over the past decade or so, even during the pandemic, when the state was a magnet for migration. At one end, metropolitan and amenity-rich counties captured most of the growth between April 1, 2020, and July 1, 2021; at the other, 21 counties experienced net out-migration. Given these disparities, the Urban Investment Strategies Center offers an approach using targeted economic development strategies.
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Urban Investment Strategies Center

  • Assessing disruptive demographic and economic trends that are shaping both the form and function of urban communities.
  • Devising policy prescriptions to enhance urban and metropolitan competitiveness.
  • Identifing pathways to prosperity for the urban disadvantaged in the hyper-competitive global economy where the new normal is “certain-uncertainty.”