ATLANTA (WTXL) - Gov. Nathan Deal announced that Georgia’s business climate has been ranked No. 1 in the nation for the sixth consecutive year by Site Selection, an economic development trade publication.
According to Site Selection, Georgia is the first state to hold this ranking for six consecutive years under leadership by the same governor.
Deal said Monday's " ... announcement is the result of exceptional collaboration between public and private sector partners who create economic opportunities in Georgia’s communities, as well as conservative policies that attract more and more business to our state each year."
Each November, Site Selection releases rankings for the top states in which to do business. Site Selection’s business climate rankings are based partly on a survey of corporate real estate executives and site consultants and an index consisting of tax burden criteria.
Economic development highlights:
- In the past eight years, Georgia has seen the creation of roughly 750,000 new, private sector jobs.
- At 3.7 percent, Georgia’s unemployment rate is now at its lowest point since 2001.
- In October 2018 alone, Deal and GDEcD announced the creation of more than 2,500 jobs and over $215 million of private sector investment in Cobb, Emanuel, Fulton, Hall and Troup counties.
- Since 2011, GDEcD has worked on more than 2,900 economic development locations and helped to bring roughly 214,000 jobs and $39.6 billion in investment to Georgia communities.
- GDEcD’s Global Commerce Division helped to bring in $5.56 billion in new investments for Georgia during the last fiscal year.
- Since 2010, overall exports from Georgia have increased by 28.8 percent.
- Since 2012, 74 percent of GDEcD location projects were outside of the metro Atlanta area.
- When state tax cuts passed earlier this year are fully implemented, Georgia’s corporate and individual income tax rates will be reduced from 6 percent to 5.5 percent. State tax reforms will also double the standard deduction for hardworking individuals and families from $3,000 to $6,000.
- As a result of federal and state tax reforms, Georgians could save up to $5 billion over the next five years. These reforms are together estimated to lead to a $4,200 increase in wage and salary income for the average household.
- The percent of Georgia’s population living below the poverty line has decreased by 2.1 percent since January 2017 and is at its lowest point since 2006.
- Monthly initial claims for unemployment insurance in Georgia recently fell to their lowest level since 1974.
- Georgia has maintained a AAA bond rating for 21 consecutive years.
- The state’s Rainy Day Fund, which was once almost empty, has now topped $2.5 billion, ranking it the highest in the Southeast and one of the top ten highest in the nation.
