One of the premier "quality-of-life" issues in the New Economy is commuting time. As suburbs stretch out ever farther from cities, more and more workers spend more and more time sitting in traffic, commuting to and from work. The result is greater traffic congestion, greater difficulty in balancing work and family responsibilities, and a real threat to economic development opportunities for communities that draw their workforce from far away. Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening and his Department of Housing and Community Development have come up with a novel idea for shortening commutes while boosting home ownership: a public-private partnership to help workers buy homes closer to work.

The "Live Near Your Work" program offers a $3,000 grant -- a third from participating employers, a third from the state, and a third from the local government of the community where the employee works -- towards costs associated with a home purchase, with the employee committing a minimum of $1,000 in his or her own funds. The home must be in a neighborhood in the sponsoring jurisdiction, and the beneficiary must agree to stay in the home for a limited period of time (usually three-to-five years).

Initiated on a limited scale three years ago, "Live Near Your Work" is beginning to take hold, especially in Baltimore, where 17 companies are participating. Tech firms in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC, are beginning to get involved, spurred by the strong interest of wired workers in a better quality of life with less time spent commuting.

More broadly, the "Live Near Your Work" plan reflects an important trend in state and local economic development strategies: away from incentives to employers for capital investment and job-creating activities, and towards workforce development and quality-of-life improvements, on the sound theory that the right labor force will attract more capital in the New Economy than short-term financial incentives will. In a Washington Post article on "Live Near Your Work," the CEO of a Washington-based tech company was quoted as saying he was thinking about passing on to employees some of the tax incentives he had received for locating in the District of Columbia.

It's the Field of Dreams approach to economic development in the New Economy: attract the best employees, and the employers will come. Maryland deserves great credit for moving in that direction while giving workers access to the most important wealth-building asset, home ownership.