State falls in business-climate ratings
Connecticut’s great leap forward last year in the CNBC Business Climate rankings has become a giant step back in this year’s study.
The state came in No. 43 in this year’s ranking of state business climates, just ahead of Louisiana and Alaska but just below Oklahoma and Arkansas. Last year, Connecticut had leapt to No. 33, 13 spots ahead of its 2014 ranking.
The study's top-five states in 2016 were Utah, Texas, Colorado, Minnesota and North Carolina. Maine, Mississippi, West Virginia, Hawaii and Rhode Island rounded out the bottom five. Among New England states, only Massachusetts made the top 20.
Joe Brennan, president of the Connecticut Business and Industry Association, said in a blog that Connecticut’s drop in ranking, which flies in the face of a business-led campaign called CT20x17 that had been aiming at raising the state to the top 20 nationally, reflects large tax increases approved by the General Assembly last year that have not alleviated a lingering budget crisis.
“We have tremendous assets in Connecticut, but bad policy choices over the years limit those strengths,” Brennan said.
Among the state’s assets, according to the study, is its workforce, ranked No. 18 in the nation this year, a 14-place decline from a year ago.
“Connecticut workers are still among the nation’s most productive based on economic output per job,” CNBC said in commentary that accompanied the study. “But the state is losing population — 16,000 people left Connecticut last year. That includes skilled workers, and that hurts its workforce score.”
Connecticut’s quality of life score, long an asset, fell this year as well, from 11th place to 25th. The education ranking fell from 11th place to 18th.
Especially hurtful to Connecticut’s 2016 score was its No. 43 ranking on economic factors after a 26th-place finish a year ago. The state also is among the bottom 10 nationally in the cost of doing business, infrastructure and cost of living.
Release of the study comes a month after a Quinnipiac University poll showing an all-time high 72 percent of voters voiced displeasure with the direction of the state.
“If we want our economy to grow, we have to make different policy choices,” Brennan said.
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