Tom Corbett finished third in the race for the “Governor’s Cup.” Pennsylvania finished behind only Texas and Ohio for its number of business development projects in 2012.
Pa. had 430 projects last year, behind 491 for Ohio and 761 for Texas. In the window of time from 2010 to 2012, the ranking is the same. Texas had 1,649 projects, Ohio 1,365 and Pa. 1,220
The magazine Site Selection outlined its criteria thusly:
Site Selection awards the Governor’s Cup each year to the governor of the state with the highest number of qualified capital investment projects the previous calendar year. The publication’s proprietary New Plant database is populated with private-sector projects that meet one or more of these criteria: an investment of at least US$1 million, creation of 50 or more new jobs or construction of new space of at least 20,000 square feet (1,860 sq. m.).
The magazine singled out the airline fuel refineries in southeast Pa. as a sign of the state’s business accomplishments. Those major employers were on the verge of collapse until government, business and labor developed a rescue plan earlier this year.
But growth in western Pa. drove the state’s overall success, too. Pittsburgh was rated the 6th best metro area in the country (population over 1M) for projects, with 126. Philadelphia was number 7, with 124 projects.
The Lancaster market took the number five spot for metro areas between 200,000 and 1,000,000. It had 33 projects. Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton was ninth, with 24 projects.
Corbett has and his re-election campaign will focus intensely on his efforts.
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2 Responses
A couple of things to note. The three year numbers cover the period 2010 through 2012. Unlike Texas, where the 2012 number is about half of the projects; for PA and Ohio the 2012 number is about a third of the total. And it is probably safe to assume that a $1 million investment, that creates 50 jobs and develops (not clear if that includes redevelops) 20,000 square feet didn’t happen overnight. So this might be a reflection on the previous administration as much as the current one. That said, it is good to see what’s happening in Lancaster, Allentown and Pittsburgh ratified by this publication.
Yeah by FRACKING our forests to death