Magazine ranks Missouri high for economic development

In its recent issue, the magazine lists the top 100 corporate job and investment announcements made in the South, and uses those figures to rank states by performance. By identifying companies making significant commitments to a state, the magazine aims to “judge a state’s attractiveness to industry,” according to the article.

Six states on the list increased their number of business deals in 2006 over 2005 – and Missouri led the way, with an additional 21 deals last year.

“Missouri, well, their year simply came out of left field,” the article says. “A remarkable year was accomplished by economic development and elected officials in Missouri in 2006.”

The only Springfield deal to make the list was T-Mobile USA, which opened a call center in Airport Plaza in May 2006. The company ranked No. 41 in the job creation category with its approximately 650 new jobs and $18 million investment, according to the article.

Call centers were ranked as the No. 1 industry based on deals that created 200 or more jobs last year. (Click here to read the latest news about Springfield’s call-center sector.)

The article also used its research to debunk myths that manufacturing is dead in the South and that 80 percent of jobs are created from existing industry.

“There’s no question that these numbers expose the myths as they relate to the South,” the article says. “It’s important to make those qualifiers in an effort to know the truth, because if there’s one thing we’ve learned about the South’s economy – it has very little in common with the rest of the country’s economy.”