by Ty Tagami | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — For a dozen years in a row now, Georgia has ranked at the top of an economic development magazine’s listing of the best states for doing business.
In a new report, Area Development Magazine cites affordable housing, reliable child care and transportation as key determinants for the state’s consecutive run atop its charts.
“Executives are asking not just where they can find talent, but where that talent can live and thrive,” said the trade journal, explaining what helped buoy the state’s ranking. The measure is seen as a marker of a state’s attractiveness to growing companies that can bring new jobs.
The new rankings came out a week after an August jobs report from the state Department of Labor. The Sept. 18 state release showed nearly five million employed, with unemployment basically unchanged from July.
Area Development Magazine’s rankings are based on a survey of consultants who help companies choose where to locate. They considered numerous factors, including permitting ease, workforce training, climate risks, taxes, business incentives, reliable energy infrastructure, support for technology innovation, and business-friendly policies.
Southern states led the list, with Georgia ahead of South Carolina, Texas and North Carolina. Ohio ranked fifth, followed by four more states in the South, with Michigan rounding out the top 10.
Gov. Brian Kemp credited Georgia’s ranking to a “team approach” to economic development with the legislature and local leaders.
The Georgia Chamber of Commerce credited teamwork between elected officials and the business community, with President and CEO Chris Clark calling Georgia the “economic envy of the nation.”
The magazine said that the criteria are changing. Tax credits and cheap land are no longer the sole selling point as access to energy, water and housing becoming crucial.
Long-term environmental resilience will be key, too, the publication said, as insurers evaluate risk of flooding, fire, extreme heat or drought. “Expect more companies to weigh climate risk and water access with growing seriousness,” the publication said, adding that Georgia is a leader in that category.
