Governor Kay Ivey announced the appointment of eight Alabama business leaders to the Alabama Growth Alliance. The panel supports efforts to drive economic growth and innovation through the governor’s new economic development strategy. The announcements came on the heels of two new studies, one that lists Alabama as a State where businesses tend to survive, and a second that ranks our State for the number of workers experiencing signs of “burnout.”
The Working for Alabama package of legislation established the Alabama Growth Alliance. The economic development initiative brings public and private leadership together to coordinate and strengthen the state’s ability to bring about economic development success.
In a press release, Governor Ivey said….
"The experienced business leaders on the Alabama Growth Alliance will be able to lend key support to the forward-looking strategies outlined in the new economic development plan. By working together, we're building a stronger, more prosperous Alabama for generations to come.”
The list of new members includes business leaders from the Mobile Based Cooper group, Alabama Power, Bank Independent of Florence, Regions Financial Corporation, and Great Southern Wood Preserving
APR previously reported on a new report that lists Alabama alongside Minnesota, Alaska, West Virginia, Massachusetts, Virginia, South Dakota, Illinois, Michigan and top ranked Montana as States where new businesses were likely to survive.
The invoicing software company, Bookipi, analyzed data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics on the number of new businesses launched in each state in 2018 and those still operating in 2023. This data was then used to calculate the five-year survival rate for new businesses in each state, highlighting the top states for starting a new business.
Number ten ranked Alabama rounds out the top ranked States with a five-year survival rate of just over 54%. Back in 2018, almost eight thousand businesses were launched. Just over four thousand survived by 2023. This is considered a respectable rate of close to 3% above the national average of nearly 52%. Employment in these businesses grew from 43,000 to just over 46,000 -- a 6% increase over the five-year period.
Missouri, New Hampshire, Kansas, Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, Delaware, New Mexico, Georgia, and Washington are the States at the bottom of the ranking. Missouri did the worst in the Bookipi study with just over 45% of its new businesses remaining open after five years. Washington did the best among low-ranking states with a nearly 49% survival rate.
Finally, the online retailer MattressNextDay studied factors like hours worked, entrepreneurial activity, cigarette smoking, and how respondents felt about the subject of “side hustles,” to establish a national ranking for worker “burnout.” Alabama came in at number eleven nationally. Louisiana was listed worst in the national, and Oklahoma came at number twenty at the bottom of the study for burnout.
