Greenville, NC MSA Ranks High for Leading Locations
GREENVILLE, NC (June 19, 2015) – The Greenville, NC MSA has been ranked in the top 20% of all U.S. metros in Area Development’s list of Leading Locations for 2015, coming in at 72 out of 373 U.S. metropolitan statistical areas (MSA) overall. Greenville also ranked 25th in the workforce category, putting it in the top 10% nationwide.
To create the list, Area Development analyzed the critical data that business leaders assess when considering site locations and expansions. The result is a ranking of U.S. metro areas of all sizes that are creating a track record of economic success. The metros are also put into population categories to allow additional comparison with metros of similar size.
The rankings are based on four key categories: prime work force, economic strength, year-over-year growth and “recession-busting” attributes. These categories are further broken down into 21 economic and workforce indicators that are evaluated to determine the rankings. Sources for the data include the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Census American Community Survey, and Moody’s Analytics.
The Greenville, NC MSA falls into the mid-sized city category that includes all metros with populations between 160,000-600,000. At just under 190,000, the Greenville, NC MSA is the second smallest metro in this group of 159 metros. In this mid-sized category, Greenville ranked 25th (top 20%) overall and 13th (top 10%) for “prime workforce indicators.” These indicators include the change in average hourly earnings and the percentage of the workforce (18-44) with a bachelor’s degree or higher, among others.
The Greenville, NC MSA earned the most impressive rankings in the “prime workforce indicators” category for all 373 U.S. metros where it ranked 25th, putting it in the top 10% nationwide. For the wage and salary growth indicator over one year, Greenville ranked 12th (top 5%) for all metros. In the workforce (18-44) with a bachelor’s degree of higher over 3 years, Greenville ranked 18th, putting it in the top 5% for all U.S. metros.
“Workforce is always a top consideration for site selectors. Companies want to be in an area with plenty of highly skilled workers as well as quality training and educational resources,” Kelly Andrews, associate director, Pitt County Development Commission, said. “The fact that we ranked so highly in the prime workforce indicators over all U.S. metros, as well as overall, is a testament to the Greenville, NC MSAs’ workforce development efforts, the quality of our workforce, and our overall business climate.”
This is the fifth year that Area Development has conducted the survey. To see the Area Development article and full list of metros ranked, visit the link below:
http://www.areadevelopment.com/Leading-Locations/Q2-2015/Leading-Metro-Locations-Full-Results-4433916.shtml
