Mayor Shirley Franklin applauded today’s news that Forbes Magazine named Atlanta as one of the top five cities in America in two major categories, business and careers. The winning cities were selected primarily on the basis of the low cost of doing business and the highly educated labor force.
Mayor Franklin said, "We have concentrated our efforts on creating an environment that is a great place to live, work and play and the selection by Forbes is another validation that we are on the right track."
In its spotlight on the city, Forbes states, "The telecom downturn hit the region hard, but homebuilding remains strong. For 11 straight years the Atlanta metro area has led the nation in housing construction." The feature also describes Atlanta as host to 14 companies in the Forbes 500, just behind New York, Houston and Chicago.
Atlanta Metro Chamber president Sam Williams, sharing in the good news said, "Cities that win the economic battle must have a diversified economy; an educated, skilled labor force; a top notch quality of life; and competitive costs. He added, "Atlanta is the third largest employer of Fortune 500 headquarters, testament to a cost of living index that is below the national average and less than other metro regions.
According to Forbes, selections for the list were compiled differently than in previous years. Income and job growth were still considered, but acknowledging the fact that these are worst of times for many metro areas, more consideration was given to the cost of doing business index, which includes prices of labor, energy, taxes and office space. The research conducted by Economy.com also focused for the first time on the qualifications of the available pool of labor, crime rates, housing costs and net migration.
Mayor Franklin says, "In addition to 75% of the Fortune 1000 companies having a presence in Atlanta, we cannot overlook the significance of Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport as a global logistics hub allowing companies and people to be within a two hour flight of 80% of the U.S. population market.
The Mayor and Williams also credit the 44 colleges and universities in the metro area as in important factor in attracting students, scholars and researchers.
Atlanta appeared as number 63 on the list in the year 2002. Mayor Franklin said, "The rapid improvement is astonishing."