MONTGOMERY – Site Selection magazine ranks Alabama’s business climate among the best in the nation in its annual survey of states. The magazine, which is read by more than 44,000 corporate executives, rated Alabama’s business climate as the third best in the nation.
“Alabama continues to be one of the nation’s leaders when it comes to economic development and growth,” Governor Bob Riley said about the magazine’s ranking. “Companies that are looking for an outstanding workforce and a pro-growth environment know Alabama is where they will find both.”
Site Selection’s annual rankings are based on quantitative and qualitative factors that site selection executives, who help companies expand or relocate, say they consider most important. Fifty percent of the ranking comes from a survey of corporate site selection executives who were asked to rank their top 10 states and 50 percent is based on four measures of new plant activity as tracked by Site Selection in its “New Plant Database.” The magazine describes the ranking process as “a blend of objective, actual new or expansion project announcements, and subjective input from corporate site seekers.”
Only North Carolina and Tennessee were ranked ahead of Alabama in the annual business survey, which can be found online at www.siteselection.com.
In August, the magazine Southern Business and Development named Alabama its “State of the Year” for its economic development performance in 2007. It was the fifth time in six years