IMPLAN Blog

We’re excited to share that our annual core data release is now live — and this year’s release brings meaningful improvements that help analysts better reflect real local economies, especially in fast-changing or highly specialized regions.

This year, our Data Team used robust data and powerful harmonization tools to deliver a high quality core dataset in record time, navigating changes in federal data availability with precision and ensuring your analyses stay on the cutting edge.

Here’s a quick look at what’s new and why it matters:

New IMPLAN analysis reveals the economic ripple effects of reduced soybean farming due to tariffs, and what a recovery could mean moving forward.

According to the Wall Street Journal, China purchased just over 200 million bushels of U.S. soybeans from January through August of this year. That’s an 80% drop from the nearly 1 billion bushels purchased during the same period last year. For an industry where China previously accounted for more than half of the $24.5 billion in U.S. soybean exports, the change represents an estimated $9.8 billion reduction in output.

But the economic impact doesn’t stop on the farm.

The Bureau of Labor Statistic’s (BLS) Monthly Employment Situation Report, also known simply as the monthly jobs report, is one of the most highly-anticipated and closely-watched employment reports due to the timeliness of the data – released mere weeks after the survey data are collected. However, this timeliness entails a trade-off with accuracy, and that trade-off has been costlier in recent years, with both the monthly revisions (as more survey responses flow in) and the annual revisions (the result of benchmarking to other data sources) raising eyebrows lately.  

For example, the 2024 annual benchmark revision estimates from August 2024 implied a larger than typical downward revision of over 800,000 jobs In August 2025, the seasonally adjusted employment estimates for June 2025 were revised downward by 27,000, flipping the estimate of job creation from positive to negative. The most recent benchmark revision estimates from September 2025 implied another larger than typical downward revision of over 900,000 jobs (-0.6 percent).  

In this article, we break down how the estimates in the monthly jobs report are compiled, why the estimates undergo revisions, why those revisions have been so large recently, and whether the BLS data are trustworthy. 

For decades, IMPLAN has empowered organizations to understand the ripple effects of economic activity. Until now, that view has centered on backward linkages: how industries support others through what they purchase. But today, we’re proud to announce a breakthrough that flips the script.

With the release of IMPLAN’s Forward Linkages Insights, you can now follow the story in the other direction, capturing how price changes and industry contributions cascade forward through supply chains, shaping costs, outputs, and opportunities across the broader economy.

This isn’t just another feature update. It’s a new lens for economic impact analysis, unlocking downstream effects in ways never before possible in IMPLAN.

International students have long been important contributors to the U.S. economy, not only through tuition payments but also through their everyday spending in the communities where they study. Beyond classrooms and campuses, international students support local restaurants, retail stores, healthcare providers, housing markets, and more.

But as new restrictions and heightened uncertainty around international enrollment take hold, the potential loss of this spending represents a significant risk to both local economies and the national economy. 

This IMPLAN analysis examines what happens if foreign student spending in the U.S. declines. To account for near-term uncertainty, we modeled the effect of a 10% reduction in student expenditures.

Across the U.S., rural communities hold immense untapped potential, but they often face an uphill climb when it comes to attracting the capital needed to realize it. Opportunities abound in logistics hubs, industrial redevelopment, workforce housing, and renewable energy infrastructure, but many rural projects are overlooked by institutional investors.

Why? Time and again, the same challenge emerges: a lack of clear, localized data.

Environmental responsibility is no longer optional – it’s essential. Global mandates are rapidly reshaping the landscape of climate disclosure, and IMPLAN is uniquely positioned to help organizations navigate it with confidence. In the US and abroad, new regulations require scope-based reporting. IMPLAN now empowers climate-conscious decision makers with powerful environmental data for US-based data offerings, capturing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by industry and region, and connecting them directly to economic impact results.

We’re pleased to announce the release of IMPLAN’s Time Series Data: your key to unlocking deeper understanding with historic consistency.

Time Series Data empowers you to move beyond one-year snapshots and start uncovering long-term economic trends with clarity and confidence. Whether you're analyzing regional economic growth, industry shifts, or policy outcomes, our Time Series Data gives you a foundation to build on.

Designed to provide more accurate, consistent, and transparent economic analysis from 2001 to 2022, our Time Series Data gives you the tools you need to understand economic impacts with more precision than ever before.

Recent economic headlines show a mixed bag for the U.S. economy. According to Reuters, U.S. retail sales fell more sharply in May 2025 than economists expected. Meanwhile, manufacturing output barely moved, reinforcing concerns about slowing momentum. But what do these numbers actually mean in terms of economic impact?

Local events that bring communities together for holidays or regional celebrations often become annual traditions deeply intertwined with an area’s identity. In recent years, however, some localities have halted events like holiday parades, block parties, and July Fourth fireworks due to increasing regulations and rising costs. The immediate savings are beneficial. However, the significant, positive effects these events have on local economies are being lost in the process. While few studies exist regarding the impact of non-tourist, community events on economies, the framework exists to reliably analyze their effects. Before jumping into the event analysis methodology however, there are several factors to assess.