Discover why more businesses are choosing Louisiana
When companies ask why they should move or expand their business to Arcadia, we aim to give beneficial answers based on your specific needs. If you can’t find an answer to your question...call us! We won’t bite.
The perception of Louisiana’s workforce and educational system does not always equal the reality. Here are the facts.
Louisiana excels in areas that attract businesses:
- The workforce is rated among the most productive in the nation and forth highest in contribution to gross state product per dollar of wage earned.
- Ranked in the top 20 in the nation in terms of high-tech job growth. The states 3% growth was higher than the national growth rate at just 1% (American Electronics Association 2002)
- Louisiana manufacturing workers are 1st in productivity when measured by value of shipments per production worker and are 4th most productive in the U.S. in value added per production worker (Census 2002).
- Ranked 3rd in the nation in percentage of income growth between 2000 and 2002. The average Louisiana Income has grown 9.44% during that time.
- Louisiana has two customized employee-training programs.
- Business climate: right-to-work, tort reform.
Education in Louisiana is a top priority:
- Louisiana’s TOPS program invests an average of $100 million per year in tuition with 40,000 students currently enrolled in the TOPS program.
- Louisiana’s school accountability program ranked in the top ten in the nation, climbing from 7th in 2002 to 6th in 2003.
- 1st in accountability and standards, 5th in improving teacher quality, and 16th in Equity of Funding (Education Week 2004).
- The national increase in college tuition last year was 9% while Louisiana’s was a mere 4% which was the 6th lowest in the country. The same study noted that total state appropriations for higher education increased 6% ranking Louisiana 5th in the U.S.
- LSU’s entrepreneur programs were positioned in the “first-tier or top 12 in the nation in Entrepreneur Magazine’s ranking of the nation’s top 100 entrepreneurial universities” (Entrepreneur Magazine, April 2003).
- Ranked 6th in Business Incubators per 10,000 businesses and 14th in Science and Engineering B.S. degrees granted as a percentage of total Bachelor’s degrees granted.
- Ranked among the top ten states in the nation for its efforts to improve school and students performance. Quality Counts 2003 ranks Louisiana 5th for accountability and standards efforts, 12th for its efforts to improve teacher quality and 12th for equitable distribution of resources.
- Louisiana’s LA 4 early childhood education program has been highlighted by the National Association of State Boards of Education as a model initiative (NASBE, September 2002).
- Louisiana's START program is in the top five in the 529 investment plans in the country, netting 6.33% interest last year (saving for college, July 2002).