Time for The Golden Shovel Awards Again: Red-Hot 2017 Arizona

Annual Econdev Awards    

2017 Gold & Silver Shovel Awards: Illinois, Georgia, Arizona, Kentucky and Mississippi Awarded Gold Shovel

Geraldine Gambale, Editor, Area Development Magazine Steve Stackhouse-Kaelble Q2 2017

Go here > http://www.areadevelopment.com/Gold-Shovel-Econdev-Awards

The work of economic development is a complicated mix of salesmanship, customer service, technical and legal expertise, communications, relationship-building, and a healthy dose of good fortune. More

Arizona — 5+ to 8 Million Population Category When it comes to economic development success stories, Arizona is a regular near the top the list of states with population counts between 5 million and 8 million. Its Gold Shovel performance is the result of major projects in finance and insurance as well as business services, mixed with a number of highly diversified manufacturing highlights.
Arizona economists are expecting a red-hot 2017, economically speaking — they’re fired up after the state celebrated a massive, multibillion-dollar announcement by Intel barely a month into the new year. But 2016 was hardly shabby, with economic growth that topped 2 percent, surpassing the nation’s 1.6 percent gain in GDP. Population in Arizona continues to rise, unemployment is dropping, and job growth ranks highly.

Here's what AZ Governor Doug Dicey had to say:

News Release June 8, 2017

Arizona Recognized As Top State For Economic Competitiveness

PHOENIX — Large-scale economic development projects in key industries, ranging from aerospace to finance to manufacturing, have earned Arizona top recognition from two prominent trade publications.
In the Site Selection magazine 2017 Prosperity Cup, Arizona was ranked the #1 most competitive state in the mountain region, and Area Development magazine http://www.areadevelopment.com/Gold-Shovel-Econdev-Awards/ has awarded Arizona a 2017 Gold Shovel Award as the top state in economic development in the five-million to eight-million population category. . .
Site Selection’s annual Prosperity Cup ranks the competitiveness of all 50 states overall and by region. Several criteria are used to calculate the final scores determining the rankings—including number of new and expanded facilities, total new jobs created, total capital investment, corporate real estate and tax climate rankings, performance in the Beacon Hill Institute’s State Competitiveness Index, and number of national career readiness certificates per 1,000 residents aged 18 to 64.

Read more > https://azgovernor.gov/governor/news/2017/06

 

2016 Top Projects: Arizona*

Population: 6.93 Million

	Company	City	N/E	Job Creation	Investment	Industry
1.	Raytheon Missile Systems	Tucson	N	1,975	$352.3 million	Aerospace
2.	Lucid Motors	Casa Grande	N	2,213	$735 million	Electric Vehicles
3.	ADP	Tempe	E	1,500	$33.8 million	Business Services
4.	Oscar Health Insurance	Tempe	E	1,250	$5 million	Insurance
5.	Wells Fargo	Chandler	E	1,200	$25 million	Financial Services
6.	Farmers Insurance	Phoenix	N	1,188	$41.3 million	Insurance
7.	CIOX Health	Phoenix	E	2,820	$15 million	Business Services
8.	Dexcom*	Mesa	E	500	$60 million	Biotechnology
9.	Huhtamaki	Goodyear	E	300	$119 million	Consumer Products
10.	SK Food Group	Tolleson	E	550	$29 million	Food Products
*Represents a state/local sponsor

Gold Shovel Economic Development Awards: Sponsor Profiles