CANADA

Based on corporate facility project investment data, Ontario secures the Canadian Competitiveness Award among provinces and 20 regions distinguish themselves as Canada’s Best Locations.

TOP UTILITIES 2024

Based on corporate end-user facility investments in their territories, these are this year’s top utilities in economic development. An online-only bonus story features their direct answers to a big question from us and their customers: “Amid a glut of heavy-load industrial projects, how is your team working with operations and external stakeholders to address power provision?”

GLOBAL GROUNDWORK INDEX

In our unique blend of private-sector corporate facility investment data and public-sector infrastructure investment data, Ohio, Indianapolis and the United Kingdom top their respective categories in laying the groundwork for growth.

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Alexis Elmore updates us on projects from silicon maker Highland Materials in Hawkins; Baldota Steel & Power in Karnataka; and Philip Morris International in Owensboro.

Graphic courtesy of The Harris Poll/Express Employment International

A survey conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of Oklahoma City–based Express Employment Professionals has found that 33% of hiring managers say budget constraints or the inability to hire is responsible for stagnant or decreasing hiring plans. Consequently, more than two-thirds of hiring managers (68%) — an increase from Spring 2021 (60%) — “report their company plans to reskill employees this year (i.e., train a current employee for a new position or teach them new skills for their current role).” The survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of Express Employment Professionals between May 16 and June 3, 2024, among 1,003 U.S. hiring decision-makers. Express Employment International Chairman and CEO Bill Stoller has some thoughts.

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A production studio operated by NBCUniversal Studios is an anchor for an OZ in Albuquerque.

Archive photo by MarbleStreetStudio.com courtesy of Visit Albuquerque

Site Selection’s November 2024 issue will include our latest update on Opportunity Zones, a program we’ve covered diligently since it was created in 2017. In addition to our own staff’s reporting, among the minds who have lent their OZ expertise to our pages are:

• Kenan Fikri, former director of research at the Economic Innovation Group, who last week began work as the inaugural director of the Regional Economic Research Initiative at the U.S. Department of Commerce


• Pulitzer Prize winner David Wessel, adapted from his book “Only the Rich Can Play: How Washington Works in the New Gilded Age”


• Renowned incentives analyst Timothy Bartik, senior economist at the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.

Photo by Iozefina Postăvaru © National Institute of Heritage, Romania

“Endless Column” is a work of art in the Brâncuși Monumental Ensemble of Târgu Jiu, capital city of Gorj judeƫ, located in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains on the banks of the river Jiu in southwestern Romania. The site was one of 26 new sites inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in early August, bringing the total number to 1,223 in 168 countries.

“Austere, contemplative, yet accessible, the monumental ensemble of Târgu Jiu was created in 1937-1938 by Constantin Brâncuși, an influential pioneer of abstract sculpture, to commemorate those who died defending the city during the First World War,” UNESCO states. “Located in two parks connected by the narrow Avenue of Heroes, the property includes the monumental ensemble of sculptural installations and the pre-existing Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, located on the axis. The remarkable fusion of abstract sculpture, landscape architecture, engineering and urban planning conceived by Constantin Brâncuși goes far beyond the local wartime episode to offer an original vision of the human condition.”