Though it is widely known that the COVID-19 pandemic caused widespread unemployment across the U.S., economists expressed skepticism that these spikes in unemployment would dramatically alter TEA designations. However, the 2020 census data was released on April 16, 2021 and the impact has been more significant than anticipated in some regions of the country. On this episode, Mona Shah is joined by Senior Economist Jeff Car to discuss how the new data has impacted TEA maps and how these changes might not last very long. Listen in to hear how TEAs are calculated, how the 2020 data may have increased the number of TEAs and how long these changes are anticipated to last.
Jeffrey B. Carr is President and Senior Economist of Economic & Policy Resources, Inc. (EPR), and he and the EPR team of professionals have worked extensively in the EB-5 industry as economists and business plan writers for over 20 years. In addition to EPR’s national economics and business plan writing practice, Mr. Carr has lectured on the EB5 program throughout the U.S. and China and has completed more than 300 assignments under the program including impact studies, business plans, TEA analysis opinions, and regional center business-operations plans. Mr. Carr also has served on the IIUSA Public Policy Committee since 2013.