GSA Daily Staff Report
Published April 9, 2010

The latest economic scorecard released by the Greater Greenville Chamber of Commerce shows the region gaining ground on its peer communities in innovative activity but still lagging in per capita income growth compared to the rest of the nation.

The annual report compiled by economists from Clemson University indicates that the community’s slower growth in per capita income has led to a $1.35 billion gap in personal income.

Of the six drivers of per capita income, Greenville increased its performance against the national average in one key area: labor force education, the chamber reported. Greenville’s performance against the nation fell in the remaining five key areas, however: knowledge work force; innovative activity; entrepreneurial environment; industrial structure and composition; and industrial diversity and breadth.

Compared to 11 peer communities, however, Greenville gained ground in innovative activity, while losing ground in knowledge workers. It retained its ranking in the other four areas. The peer communities used in this study are Southern cities with similar business environments and growth potential. Peer communities include Charleston; Columbia; Birmingham, Ala.; Greensboro/Winston-Salem, N.C.; Jackson, Miss.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Lexington, Ky; Little Rock, Ark.; Louisville, Ky; and Richmond, Va.

“The past several years have been difficult for many communities across the Southeast,” said Hank Hyatt, vice president of economic development at the chamber. “However, we are very encouraged about the improvement in the labor force education metric.”

In response to findings from previous scorecards, the chamber launched the five-year Accelerate initiative to increase its legislative advocacy efforts, its education-related endeavors and its efforts in assisting startup companies at the Next Innovation Center in downtown Greenville. The initiative is designed to add 15,000 jobs and $800 million in annual payroll to the Greenville economy in five years.

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