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Agency official describes BEA's RIMS multipliers as a tool for local economic-impact analysis
Summary
An agency official outlined how the Bureau of Economic Analysis's RIMS multipliers let users estimate a project's local economic effects (jobs, earnings, sales), work in spreadsheets, are available for every U.S. county, and can be customized by region and industry.
An agency official said RIMS multipliers, produced by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), let users estimate a project's local economic effects, including employment, earnings and total change in sales.
The official said the multipliers are "a great, cost-effective, customizable product" supported by BEA data and intended for a wide set of users: business leaders promoting projects, government officials evaluating proposals, and private citizens assessing local impacts. He emphasized that the tool is designed to be usable by people who are not specialists.
According to the official, RIMS can be applied to projects ranging from factory expansions and municipal facilities such as stadiums to hospital expansions, including the addition of a new wing. Users supply basic project inputs'examples the official gave included construction cost and the additional sales or services expected from the project'and apply the multipliers to estimate direct and indirect effects on a defined economic region.
The official described the multipliers as tables of numbers that customers can use in a spreadsheet or other software. "RIMS is a product that is produced for all counties in the United States," he said, and customers can order regions that are "fully customizable down to any combination of contiguous states or counties." He added that customers can select the industry category that best fits their analysis.
On practical requirements, the official said the minimum a customer would need is the multipliers themselves plus simple tools such as a pen, paper and a calculator, while more detailed analyses can be done in spreadsheet software.
For customers who order RIMS and have questions about whether RIMS is the right product for their needs, the official said they should use the phone number or email address listed on the BEA website to contact BEA for assistance.
BEA provides the multipliers as a data product and support resources on its website; users should consult BEA directly for pricing, licensing and technical support details.
