Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Texas Ranked Top economy in nation by CNBC

Check out this great article from the San Antonio Business Journal! More good news for those of us in Texas!

Thursday, July 10, 2008
Texas ranked top economy in nation by CNBC
San Antonio Business Journal - by Yvonne Freckmann

CNBC Inc. ranked Texas as the best all-around state economy and the No. 1 state to do business in America in 2008.
Texas boasts over half of the nation's new jobs created in the past 12 months, and has added over 1.2 million net new jobs in the past five years, more than any other state.
With a population of 23.9 million and a Gross State Product of $37,793 (per capita), Texas has experienced a growth rate of 4.1 percent and an unemployment rate of 4.3 percent.
Compared to last year, Texas improved in rank slightly or remained the same in the categories of cost of doing business; economy; education; quality of life, technology and innovation; transportation; cost of living; business friendliness and access to capital, according to CNBC's study.
Texas' workforce ranking lowered from rank 7 to rank 12 this year. Major industries for the state include oil and natural gas, banking, steel, insurance and tourism.
Gov. Rick Perry touted the CNBC report as proof that Texas is a great place to do business. The governor's office notes that Texas has more Fortune 500 and Fortune 1000 company headquarters than any other state in the nation.
Perry cites the TexasOne Program, which the governor describes as the "door opener" to recruit companies to Texas; the Texas Enterprise Fund, the nation's largest and most successful "deal closing" fund; and the Emerging Technology Fund as having played a significant role in Texas' economic and job growth.
CNBC Inc. is an Englewood Cliffs, N.J.-based business cable news network. It is a unit of NBC Universal Cable.