Earlier this week,
Kiplinger magazine published their
list of "eight cities with surprising job growth." Holding the number-one spot on that list? Nashville. While those of us who work in economic development on a daily basis were not surprised -- we know what a great thing we have going here in this region -- we certainly appreciate the article's statement that Nashville is "poised to become [a] job-creating machine in the years ahead."
Their methodology?
Kiplinger studied metro areas with at least 1 million people and analyzed their track record of above-average population and job growth coming out of the 2008-2009 recession, in addition to analyzing demographic trends and industry growth that point to rapid job creation. Nashville topped all the metro areas on the list for fastest two-year job growth -- four times as fast as the U.S. as a whole.
Nashville's vibrant tech sector, large number of colleges and universities and strategic location at the crossroads of three interstates were all cited as factors contributing to current and future job creation. The article predicted the Nashville metropolitan area will continue to add a variety of jobs in the health care, education, service and manufacturing sectors.
More great news came out recently with Policom, a Florida-based research firm specializing in analyzing local and state economies, listing the Nashville region as the nation's
fourth-strongest economy. The study measured 23 economic factors over a 20-year period (1991-2010) to examine the long-term behavior of the 366 metropolitan statistical areas in the U.S.
Needless to say, we were excited to see this reinforcement of our long-term economic development strategies, and the icing on the cake was that the Nashville MSA came in ahead of our peer cities in both of these rankings. We rely on this sort of independent research as a supplement to our work to attract new jobs and new business to Middle Tennessee through Partnership 2020.
Over the past year, the Nashville region's consistent job growth and great quality of life have been touted by a
wide variety of sources, but as an economic development professional, I can tell you we never get tired of positive national publicity. When other national sources help prove our assertion that “business is good” in the Nashville region, it only makes it more fun and compelling to share that news with the world.