La. getting some good grades - KNOE 8 News; KNOE-TV; KNOE.com |

BATON ROUGE, La., (KNOE 8 News) - Pollina Corporate Real Estate Inc. released its annual ranking of top pro-business states, with Louisiana rising to No. 16 in the U.S. Louisiana has climbed 24 spots in Pollina's ranking since 2008, making it the most improved state in the country over the last four years.

Since January 2008, Louisiana has improved to its highest-ever position in every major national ranking of state business climates, including those published by Area Development, Business Facilities, CNBC, Forbes, Pollina Corporate Real Estate, Site Selection and Chief Executive.

Pollina ranks the 50 states on 32 factors, including evaluation metrics such as business tax burdens, workforce training programs, workers compensation costs, economic development incentives, energy costs, marketing programs and state economic development efforts. Louisiana climbed from No. 40 in 2008 to No. 27 in 2009, No. 20 in 2010 and No. 18 in 2011. The latest Louisiana advancement to No. 16 continues the state's economic momentum across a slate of third-party business climate rankings, including the Pollina report.

"Governors that should be giving advice on job creation include Governor Jindal of Louisiana," said Brent Pollina, co-author of the report. "Since taking office in 2008, Governor Jindal has pulled his state from a rank of 40th up to 16th in 2012. No other state has moved up in rank this rapidly."

Pollina scored the 50 states in two stages: Stage I evaluates labor, taxes, education and several other factors; Stage II evaluates incentive programs, including those for existing or expanding businesses and for small businesses, and the performance of state economic development agencies. Utah ranks No. 1 in the 2012 study, with Virginia (No. 2) as the only Southern state in the Top 10. California ranked last.

Louisiana's improved ranking from 2008 to 2012 is based on a variety of factors, including the elimination of several harmful business taxes; the creation of LED's Business Expansion and Retention Group; the creation or enhancement of targeted business incentive programs, such as the new Retention and Modernization Program and the enhanced Digital Interactive Media and Software Development Incentive; the launch of LED FastStart™; LED's enhanced website; recent economic development marketing campaigns; and improved perceptions of Louisiana among top site-selection consultants and corporate executives.

Louisiana earned State or Co-State of the Year designations from Southern Business & Development in 2009, 2010 and 2011, and Business Facilities has honored LED FastStart as the nation's No. 1 workforce training program in 2010, 2011 and 2012. Site Selection named LED the best-performing state economic development agency in the nation in 2011.