Georgia was recently named among America’s Top States for Business 2013 by CNBC, coming in as the 8th best state for business overall.
Scoring all 50 states on 51 measures of competitiveness developed with input from business groups such as the National Association of Manufacturers and the Council on Competitiveness, CNBC assigned states points based on their rankings in each metric. Those metrics fit into ten categories: cost of doing business, economy, infrastructure, workforce, quality of life, technology and innovation, business friendliness, education, cost of living, and access to capital. By weighting the categories based on how frequently they are cited in state economic development marketing materials, the study ranks the states based on the values they promote to brand themselves.
Georgia ranks within the top ten states for several categories, including education and access to capital. Most notably, the ranking awarded Georgia #1 in the workforce category for the second year in a row. Counting for 300 points, this is among the most weighted. CNBC notes, “Many states point with great pride to the quality and availability of their workers.” To calculate the workforce rankings, CNBC rated states based on the education level of their workforce, as well as the amount of available workers. They explain that while organized labor vies that a union workforce is a quality workforce, that argument, more often than not, does not resonate with business. Therefore, the ranking also considered union membership and the states’ right-to-work laws.
Click here to see CNBC’s full list of America’s Top States for Business 2013.
-Meredith Farahmand
