President Obama should cancel his jobless tour. All he needs to do is pay attention to policies that create real jobs. In yet another list, this one the Pollina Corporate Top 10 Pro-Business States report, 9 out of 10 are right-to-work.
Pollina Corporate Top 10 Pro-Business States
“Americans have noticed that while costs have risen, incomes have not. In reality, the cost of living has risen by approximately 33 percent from 2000 to 2013 while median family income for the same period has decreased by approximately 7.2 percent,” says economist and corporate relocation expert Dr. Ron Pollina in the just-released Pollina Corporate Top 10 Pro-Business States for 2013, co-published with the American Economic Development Institute (www.aedi.us).
“American families increasingly find their standard of living is not improving, their incomes are not rising and they are sliding increasingly into debt. Meanwhile, the economic policy of most states and the federal government continually throws roadblocks at hard-working people. How long will the American middle class remain the majority,” Dr. Pollina asks.
The Pollina Corporate annual 50-state ranking indicates how well each state has or has not positioned itself to retain and create jobs as well as sustain America’s middle class. Now in its tenth edition, the study has also become an important tool for corporations to evaluate their current and future U.S. locations.
The study examines 32 factors relative to state efforts to be pro-business and has become recognized as the “Gold Standard” for evaluating states. It is the most comprehensive and impartial examination (with no advertising) of states available.
The Top 10 states listed below exhibited leadership that truly understands the importance of producing the best business environment, and thus the best opportunities for job growth and economic prosperity. All 10 top-ranked states should be held up as models for the other 40 states and the federal government. .
2013 Top 10 Pro Business Rankings
1 Utah 6 Kansas 2 Nebraska 7 Indiana 3 North Dakota 8 South Dakota 4 Virginia 9 Missouri 5 Wyoming 10 Alabama In the U.S. today, if you combine state, local, and federal taxes, the tax burden on companies is among the highest the world. Add labor costs, and we are one of the highest cost nations to do business in. American companies, if they are to survive in a global economy, must be located in the most pro-business locations possible.
The Pollina Corporate Top 10 Pro-Business States study is based on 32 factors that our clients indicate are most important and more than 30 years of experience as site selectors. We weigh all factors based on the requirements of our corporate clients and our three decades of site selection experience.
Our ranking takes a comprehensive two-stage approach. Stage I, Labor, Taxes and Other Factors, is based on 19 factors, including taxes, human resources, right-to-work legislation, energy costs, infrastructure spending, worker compensation legislation, and jobs lost or gained. Stage II, Incentives and State Economic Development Agency Factors evaluation, examined 13 additional state government-controlled factors, including state financial incentive programs and state economic development department evaluations.
