The states receiving this year’s Gold Shovel Awards all had large numbers of high-impact economic development projects, including deals of $1 billion or more creating thousands of new jobs. Tennessee joins California, Ohio, South Carolina, Nevada and Utah in receiving Gold Shovels to recognize the scope of their economic development successes in 2015.
This is the second consecutive year Tennessee has received a Gold Shovel Award. In addition to 2015, our state received Gold Shovels in 2012 and 2009, and Silver Shovels in 2011 and 2010.
The top projects that made Tennessee a Gold Shovel winner include Aegis Sciences Corporation (740 jobs and $31.1 million capital investment); Community Health Systems (1,500 jobs and $160 million capital investment); and Nissan North America, Inc. (1,000 jobs and $57 million capital investment).
Area Development‘s Shovel Awards annually recognize states that have achieved the most success in terms of new job creation and economic development competitiveness. States are compared only to others in their population tier.
