Tennessee honored as "2013 State of the Year!"

Tennessee honored as "2013 State of the Year!"

Business Facilities, an economic development magazine named Tennessee the 2013 State of the year recently. With over $3.2 Billion in capital investment and 6900 new jobs, Tennessee beat rival Texas for this honor for the first time since 2009.

Since 2007 Texas and Tennessee have each won this title twice.

The five largest projects created the majority of these investments and jobs. Those included Aramark's $20 million facility in Nashville, the new $800 million plant expansion in Clarksville for Hankook Tire Company and the $1.6 billion that Eastman Chemical Company is investing in a Kingsport plant.

Other companies included UBS, a large banking company adding 1,000 new jobs, Alcoa is expanding and spending $275 million while adding 200 new jobs, Calsonic Kansai North America, an auto parts supplier is adding 1,200 new jobs and Nissan, our Franklin based manufacturer is also adding 1,400 new jobs.

Business Facilities has named Tennessee Number 1 in the Auto  Manufacturing sector for the past 4 years. 

Tennessee Economic Community and Development Commissioner Bill Hagerty told the Tennessean "while the state's net job creation numbers are competitive nationally, the unemployment rate is unacceptable, especially in rural areas." 

Tennessee's unemployment rate is 8.1% compared to the national unemployment rate of 6.7% nationwide.

Many companies are attracted to Tennessee because of its central location. This can reduce shipping and transportation cost as energy prices increase.