OKLAHOMA 21st CENTURY, INC. is a non-profit, non-partisan organization, founded as OKLAHOMA 2000, INC. in 1981. Its name was changed in 2000. The organization is affiliated with The State Chamber—-Oklahoma’s Association of Business and Industry. It operates, however, under its own charter and is governed by its own Board of Directors. OKLAHOMA 21st CENTURY, INC. engages in research regarding the role of industry in the civic, social and cultural betterment of the State of Oklahoma. The results of these reports are provided to federal, state and local government agencies, government officials, civic organizations, and the general public.
2012 ACE Book Brings Oklahoma's Economy Into Focus
by Director on Fri Mar 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 6, 2012
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Oklahoma compares well to other states on key business indicators
OKLAHOMA CITY - The recently-released 2012 Accountability for a Competitive Economic (ACE) book gives a clear picture of where Oklahoma is succeeding economically, and where the state continues to need improvement in order to attract jobs and investment.
The book, published by The State Chamber’s research affiliate Oklahoma 21st Century, Inc., provides a snapshot of Oklahoma’s business climate compared to that of other states. Unemployment and workers’ compensation costs, educational progress, taxes, cost of doing business, investment levels and other critical issues are reviewed in this book.
Oklahoma received high rankings when it comes to the cost of doing business (Table 9) and showed improvement moving our economy from 6th best in the nation to 4th. Our strong economy is also reflected in the fact that Oklahoma’s job growth in the last 10 years ranks 9th in the country (Table 5).
But, the book also points out many challenges Oklahoma faces when it comes to business competitiveness. Oklahoma received a “D” for our workers’ compensation system (Table 17) and our exports continue to rank among the lowest in the nation (Table 6).
“The annual ACE publication gives a clear picture about where Oklahoma is economically right now, how we stack up to those states around us, and points to indicators where improvement is needed,” said Mike Seney, executive director of Oklahoma 21st Century and senior vice president of policy analysis & strategic planning for The State Chamber. “It is important that we recognize areas where we are succeeding, and others that are holding us back from job and economic growth and work together to improve our business climate moving forward.”
Overall, Oklahoma was ranked as the 28th best state for business in the country by CNBC in 2011 (Table 9), falling behind Texas, Colorado, Kansas and Missouri in the region.
“Texas was ranked as the 2nd best state in the country to do business, and companies looking to relocate take notice of the states on the top of that list,” said State Chamber President Fred Morgan. “We have to continue to improve our business climate in Oklahoma so we can not only compete with Texas and other states in our region, but with the rest of the country and world. Business retention and recruitment result in Oklahoma jobs that we need to grow our great state.”
For a copy of the ACE book, call 405-235-3669 or to view a PDF version online, go to: http://www.okstatechamber.com/additional/21stCentury/2012ACEBook.pdf. For more information about Oklahoma 21st Century, go here: http://www.ok21stcentury.com
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