In November, Site Selection ranked Louisiana No. 4 in the magazine’s 2015 Top State Business Climate Rankings. It is the sixth consecutive Top 10 ranking for Louisiana in the annual Site Selection report and reinforces the state’s reputation as a top location for business investment and job creation. Just six years ago, Louisiana ranked No. 25.
Gov. Bobby Jindal said, “Economic development has been a top priority for this administration, and recognition such as this from a respected source like Site Selection magazine is a welcome validation of our efforts. From the outset, we have stressed important changes to the way we do business in Louisiana – cutting taxes, revamping workforce training and reforming our governmental ethics laws. The results speak for themselves: Today, Louisiana is a leader in helping businesses and industries expand within our state, relocate to our state, invest in Louisiana and create jobs here for current and future generations. We have cultivated an ideal business climate for advanced manufacturing, software development, energy, aerospace and other industries to invest and create more quality jobs for Louisiana residents than ever before.”
Site Selection bases its business climate ranking on a variety of factors. Half of the score results from a survey of corporate site selectors who are asked to rank the states based on their recent experience of locating facilities in them. The other 50 percent is based on an index that includes total new projects year-to-date, both overall and per capita; state tax burdens on new and established companies; and performance in Site Selection’s annual Top Competitive States ranking. Louisiana ranked No. 2 in 2014 and No. 6 in 2013 for Top Business Climate.
Since 2008, Louisiana has secured economic development wins that are resulting in more than 91,000 new jobs, more than $62 billion in new capital investment and hundreds of millions of dollars in new sales for small businesses across the state.
Earlier this year, Business Facilities magazine ranked Louisiana No. 3 in the U.S. in its Best Business Climates ranking, and Area Development magazine placed Louisiana No. 8 in its Top States for Doing Business ranking, the fifth consecutive Top 10 ranking for Louisiana in that annual report.
Louisiana now places higher in all national business climate rankings than it ever did prior to 2008. In five national business climate rankings – those published by Area Development, Business Facilities, Chief Executive, Site Selection and international location marketing firm DCI – Louisiana now ranks among the Top 10 states in the U.S. Site Selection named Louisiana Economic Development the No. 2 state economic development agency in the nation in May 2015, which reflected the Top Competitive States ranking for 2014 performance.
By Gary Perilloux
