Top States for Doing Business 2014

The business climate in the country has seen a massive shift over the last few years with state tax laws and regulations restricting corporations more than ever. New York and California have seen a mass exodus recently with companies shifting to Texas and the Southeast.

AreaDevelopment.com has just released their 5th annual "Top States for Doing Business" report.

Sparking growth in business investment and jobs has proven more difficult than expected for states as they have emerged from the Great Recession. Capital spending and, especially, job creation have remained below par as corporate chiefs and business owners stick with a conservative philosophy until they perceive signs of a true boom. So the fight for the attention of site consultants and CFOs is more pitched than ever.

The study ranked the states based on their number of mentions by the consultants in three overall categories and 18 subcategories, Business Environment, Labor Climate and Infrastructure and Global Access.

Top States for Doing Business 2014

Georgia
Texas
South Carolina
Alabama
Tennessee

AreaDevelopment.com's Commentary on Alabama:

"Alabama remained solidly in position No. 4 in the Area Development survey of site consultants. This may be based on the strength of its significant and growing accomplishments in transportation manufacturing and the success of the state’s long-term economic development plan known as Accelerate Alabama. Accelerate Alabama was launched in 2012 and concentrates on optimizing Alabama’s advantages in infrastructure, workforce training, and other areas in working with 11 major industries.

The state’s most notable development is the continued climb in importance of car production, with Alabama as host to major facilities for Mercedes-Benz, Honda, and Hyundai that produced more than 915,000 vehicles last year. Mercedes launched output of its C-Class sedan, while Toyota moved ahead with a $150 million expansion of its Alabama engine plant. Meanwhile, the state’s auto-supplier sector added 2,300 new jobs in the year ended in June to keep up with burgeoning final demand.

“They’ve done a nice job in Alabama for Mercedes,” Sean McAlinden, executive director of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich., told Area Development.

And the state has also “done a nice job” for the airplane and aerospace industry. Alabama was the traditional home of Saturn rocket manufacture during moon-shot days, and now its United Launch Alliance factory in Decatur turns out a range of $200 million to $1 billion in rockets to carry an array of satellites into space.

And in its first U.S. production, Airbus plans to begin manufacturing its A320 family of passenger jets in Alabama next year. That will add to the European consortium’s existing engineering presence in Alabama. It will also prompt development of a supplier infrastructure, joining Boeing’s operations in the state to make Alabama one of America’s air-transportation manufacturing leaders."

Business Environment