Area Development magazine ranked Louisiana No. 8 in its annual Top States for Doing Business report. This is the ninth consecutive year Louisiana has made the top 10 of the magazine’s list, which surveys site selection consultants to produce the report.
In addition to the overall business climate ranking, Louisiana posted several other top 10 rankings in the report, including third in the nation for leading workforce development programs, sixth for favorable utility rates, seventh for business incentive programs and eighth for favorable general regulatory environment and speed of permitting.
“This is great news and confirms that Louisiana continues to be a great place for doing business,” Gov. John Bel Edwards said in a statement regarding the ranking. “With our Gross Domestic Product at an all-time high and employment remaining at a near record-high level, we are appropriately being recognized as a top state for doing business.”
Georgia was named the No. 1 state for doing business, followed by Tennessee, South Carolina, Alabama, North Carolina, Texas and Mississippi. Following Louisiana’s No. 8 spot were Ohio and Indiana.
Area Development lauded Louisiana’s workforce development successes, which include LED FastStart, a customized workforce training program launched by Stephen Moret, the former head of LED, during the Jindal administration. Earlier this year, Business Facilities magazine ranked LED FastStart the No. 1 state workforce training program for a record 10th year in a row. Read the full rankings here, and the statement from the governor here.
