Louisiana has defended its crown as the top-ranked state for Customized Training for a record 12th-consecutive year in Business Facilities‘ 17th Annual Rankings Report, released this week.
“Louisiana continues to set the standard for excellence in customized training,” BF Editor in Chief Jack Rogers said. “The establishment of the LED FastStart Technology Center, with fully developed Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality production suites, ensures that Louisiana’s premier workforce development program will stay ahead of the curve for years to come.”
Virginia, No. 2 in BF’s annual training ranking, is mounting the strongest challenge to date to Louisiana’s hegemony in this category. “The Virginia Talent Accelerator Program is dramatically increasing the success rate of new hires at manufacturing facilities like Morgan Olson’s new step-van plant by training recruits before they’re hired,” Rogers said.
Filling out the top five on BF’s customized training leaderboard are Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee, respectively. Rogers noted that a weighted factor in BF’s evaluation of customized training programs this year was the flexibility exhibited by these programs in response to the challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Louisiana was one of the first states to be hit by the onslaught of the coronavirus in March 2020, and it was hit hard,” Rogers said. “LED FastStart rapidly marshalled its impressive resources to help high schools transition to online courses while converting traditional in-person-instructor workforce training courses to a webinar format.”
LED FastStart also mobilized its media division to produce 26 Public Service announcements during the crisis for radio, TV and social media, including messages from Gov. John Bel Edwards and Ed Orgeron, the LSU football coach.
California, the “birthplace of biotech,” New Jersey and Massachusetts were the top three states, respectively, in BF’s Biotechnology state ranking.
“New Jersey has been home to the biggest pharma giants for decades, but the Garden State isn’t resting on its laurels,” Rogers said. “NJ is augmenting its highly educated workforce—known locally as the ‘brain belt’—with world-class incubators that provide a fertile startup ecosystem.”
Business Facilities is a national publication that has been the leading location source for corporate site selectors and economic development professionals for more than 50 years. Business Facilities’LiveXchange event will take place October 26-28 at the Westin La Paloma Resort & Spa in Tucson, Arizona.
Click here to read the full 17th Annual Rankings Report including all State, Metro and Global rankings.
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