Louisiana Is Co-state Of The Year

Yesterday, while Gov. Bobby Jindal was conducting his Louisiana Working Tour, Southern Business & Development magazine named Louisiana as its Co-state of the Year along with Tennessee. Louisiana and Tennessee beat out 15 other states in the South in the annual SB&D 100 rankings.

Gov. Jindal said "No plan to move our economy forward during these leaner times is realistic without targeting business growth and greater job creation for our people. We don't want our kids to have to leave the state to pursue their dreams; we want them to be able to find a great paying job right here at home because Louisiana is the best place in the world for businesses to expand and succeed. Southern Business & Development ranking us in the top slot in the country is further proof that our efforts to grow our economy are working, and we are only getting started."

In addition to Louisiana being named Co-state of the Year, the state's two most populous areas, New Orleans and Baton Rouge also received recognition in the SB&D 100. New Orleans was named Major Market of the Year after receiving Honorable Mention in 2007 and 2008. The publication named Baton Rouge Mid-market of the Year for 2009, following its Honorable Mention ranking in 2008. Terrebonne Parish also received recognition for landing projects that will have a positive impact on the local economy.

"By any reasonable measure, Louisiana's economy has outperformed the South and the U.S. since the beginning of the national recession early last year," said Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Stephen Moret. "We are delighted to receive this recognition, yet we know we have a lot of work left to do to position Louisiana to outperform the South on a regular basis."

According to Lee Burlett of Southern Business & Development, "over the last three years no state in the South has performed better than Louisiana."

For these rankings, Southern Business & Development counts the number of companies making public commitments of 200 jobs or more or $30 million in investment or more. The SB&D 100 consists of the 100-largest job and investment deals announced, based on calendar year.

To read the full article, visit www.SB-D.com.