Indiana Ranks High in the Polls!
We often are excited about polls and what they tell us about our favorite sports teams. The Lady Irish’s number two ranking has us excited about the upcoming basketball season. We are encouraged to see the Irish football team again crack the top 25 heading into their big match-up with Stanford. We are optimistic that Tom Crean has things pointed in the right direction and we’ll see the Hoosiers again ranked amongst the nation’s elite.
While those polls are important, a number of other important polls are out that have nothing to do with our favorite sports teams. However, they may be more important than any others that we pay attention to this year. The State of Indiana again has received high marks on virtually every poll related to people doing business in our State. Indiana continues to score well on many national comparisons and continues to lead its neighbors across the Midwest.
Recently, Area Development Magazine, a national publication that focuses on site and facility planning, ranked Indiana 5th in the Nation in its “Top States to do Business Survey.” Site Selection Magazine, a national publication that focuses on corporate real estate strategy and area economic development ranked Indiana 6th in the Nation in its “Top Business Climate Survey.”
The Site Selection ranking is the fourth year in a row Indiana has garnered a top 10 mark. Site Selection used feedback from a survey of national real estate executives and a review of Indiana’s economic development record. Indiana is moving in the right direction, climbing two spots from eighth in 2010.
In a 2011 survey of five hundred Chief Executives from across the Country, Indiana ranks best in the Midwest and sixth nationally in the rankings of best and worst states for business. The US Chamber ranks Indiana best in the Midwest and fourth nationally in their survey of most enterprising states.
The Hoosier state also ranks best in the Midwest and tenth nationally amongst the best states for low taxes, according to the Tax Foundation. Indiana is one of only nine states with a top bond rating from all three major credit rating agencies.
According to the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, Indiana’s tax and regulatory environments rank as fourth best in the nation for job creation and economic growth. The state was also ranked as top in the nation for rail and highway accessibility and was among the consultants’ second pick as a state leading in the economic recovery.
The good news is that in a difficult economy, Indiana appears high on the radar screen of companies looking to relocate, grow, or expand. The Hoosier State has earned this good reputation by offering a skilled workforce, sound transportation infrastructure, a good tax and regulatory environment, and a welcoming atmosphere for entrepreneurs seeking to make their visions a reality.
So what does all this mean to our local economy and job opportunities in our region? Not much if you are currently unemployed, or if your family and business are struggling to navigate the challenges of this difficult economy and slow recovery. It means a lot if you are trying to sell this area to a local business thinking about expanding or moving or to a business thinking about relocating here from somewhere else.
For Indiana and our area to achieve success, we need to focus on those things that can influence our success. Governor Daniels often talks about what it takes to steer Indiana and our region through these hard economic times, and the message is quite different than what is coming from Washington, D.C. “Government does not create jobs,” he has said, “it only creates the conditions that make jobs more or less likely.”
Our area has not kept pace with the success happening around the rest of the Hoosier State. I believe we all have an interest in changing that story, and it’s my hope we all can work together to create those conditions that make jobs more likely here instead of less likely.
I had a recent conversation with a site selector about why they chose where they did instead of in our region. They indicated the cost of doing business, the ease of doing business, and access to a skilled workforce were the three driving factors in locating where they did.
Those all seem to be conditions within our control, and will require all of us playing a part to change that thinking and again have site selectors think about our area a good place to do business. Our state receives high marks, let’s make sure our region does all we can to climb those polls so that we also receive those high marks.
By Jeff Rea, President & CEO of The Chamber of Commerce of St. Joseph County
