We’re closing out the second week of May with some rankings… Chief Executive magazine released its 2015 “Best and Worst States for Business.” Texas, Florida and North Carolina came in top three. Washington ranks #32, earning three out of five stars for workforce quality and two out of five for taxes and regulations. Summary line from the analysis:
High tech and manufacturing continue to be strong with established companies, but Washington’s regulatory environment can stifle outside investment in new facilities.
Rankings like these, while subjective, can be a gauge of how the business climate of our state is perceived. They also beg the question, how can Washington improve? In our view, making Washington a great place to live and work depends on a balanced strategy that encourages both high quality of life and a healthy business climate. To that end, we developed the Benchmarks for a Better Washington in 2011 to track multiple measures covering innovation, quality of life and business costs. According to the Benchmark analysis, Washington has continued to do well on innovation – patent generation and job creation – but there’s room to improve in other areas, including education and transportation. Progress on those should be the focus of the tail end of this legislative session.
