December 3,
2008 Nashville, Tennessee - By
most objective measurements, the State of Tennessee had a strong
year in the area of economic development and job creation.
While national media focused on Volkswagen Group
of America's decision to locate a $1 billion, 2,000-job assembly
plant in Chattanooga, our state has experienced other successes,
as well, perhaps not as high-profile, but equally important.
The people of Henderson, Tennessee, are just as
excited about automotive supplier Arvin Sango coming to town with
a start-up workforce of 40 employees as the people of Gallatin about
the arrival of Shoals Technologies, a maker of solar panels, or
folks in Newport are about 100 new jobs at Lisega, the German pipeline-supply
maker.
And while there's an intense focus on companies
coming to our state, roughly two-thirds of the 25,000 new jobs our
department helped create in fiscal 2007-08 came from companies already
doing business in Tennessee.
Given the budget challenges the state faces, it's
understandable for some to question whether Tennessee can sustain
the momentum of the past 12 - 24 months. My answer is an unequivocal
"yes."
State Will Continue to Compete
In May, Site Selection magazine named Tennessee the most
competitive state in the country for economic development. In November,
the same publication listed Tennessee as one of the top two business
development climates in the U.S. Our agency's pipeline of potential
projects is as full as it has ever been in the past five years,
and we're focused on pursuing job-creation projects that create
the strongest return-on-investment possible for the people of Tennessee.
The Volkswagen project, for example, will generate more than $500
million annually in new personal income for southeast Tennessee.
Gov. Phil Bredesen has always suggested corporate incentives are
deal "closers," not deal "makers," and that
continues to be Tennessee's approach. A state has to demonstrate
it has the right workforce, location and business climate before
a discussion ever begins.
That's why Tennessee has strategic advantages over
some of its competitor states, and we'll continue to aggressively
market those advantages. Those who suggest Tennessee might be pulling
back or freezing its efforts to create higher-skilled, better-paying
jobs for its citizens in the current economic environment are, at
the very least, misguided.
In Tennessee, we've been fortunate that the state's
economic development efforts have enjoyed bipartisan support through
multiple administrations. A good-paying job doesn't come with a
designation as Republican or Democrat, it simply helps a Tennessean
support a family and build a better life for himself or herself.
That's why Tennessee will continue to make investments in the training
of workers and in public roads and infrastructure that allow growth
to take place.
In a recession, the challenges to job creation
are greater, to be sure, but the effort is no less worthwhile. Our
state is not about to pull back at a time when good jobs are sorely
needed.
For more information on the Tennessee Department
of Economic and Community Development, visit their website at http://www.state.tn.us/ecd/.
