Arizona Arizona also had a solid year — the economic scorecard shows the state added 61,600 net new jobs and held the unemployment rate at about 6 percent. Arizona is predicted to continue its strong economic performance in high-tech and innovative industries. TechAmerica Foundation’s “2015 Cyberstates Report” notes there are more than 132,000 tech industry jobs in Arizona. High-tech entrepreneurialism is supported by a variety of incubators, accelerators, and co-working spaces around the state. It’s hoped that new startups will contribute to Arizona’s projected job growth of 3.1 percent in 2016.

Top employment sectors include aerospace and defense, semiconductors, electronics, IT, and software. Arizona’s robust aerospace and defense sector contributes about $38 billion annually to the Arizona economy and employs more than 52,000 workers. IT/high-tech announcements in Arizona include Groupon (Scottsdale, $3 million, 150 workers) and Orbital ATK (Gilbert, $16.3 million, 86 workers). Other high-growth tech industries are renewable energy, bioscience, advanced manufacturing, and photonics/optics. Advanced manufacturer Special Devices Inc.’s (a maker of automotive airbag inflators) new facility in Mesa will employ 174 workers.

Arizona also has a growing reputation for business support, including customer-service centers. Major announcements include Zenefits in Tempe ($5 million, 1,400 workers) and Santander Consumer USA Holdings in Mesa ($9.4 million, 970 jobs). Arizona’s business-support reputation did not go unnoticed by Cenlar FSB, the nation’s leading loan servicing provider, which recently announced its first expansion outside New Jersey — a $6 million, Western operations center in Tempe that will create 750 projected new jobs over a three-year period.

Indiana Although Indiana struggled with job growth in 2015 across its major sectors, overall its diverse manufacturing industry performed well, especially automotive (about $10.5 billion in exports). The biggest news was Subaru of Indiana’s plans for a $140 million expansion of its Lafayette facility, creating about 1,200 new jobs. Other announcements include Chiyoda USA Corporation’s $56.1 million, 90,000-square-foot expansion of its auto parts plant in Greencastle, which will require 300 new workers by 2017. In addition, NTN Driveshaft plans a $127.9 million, 510-worker expansion of its manufacturing operations in Anderson, boosting its capacity to 300,000 constant velocity joints for the automotive industry.

“After conducting an exhaustive multi-state search, we selected Indiana for this new facility because of its business-friendly climate and policies, the availability of skilled labor, and the strong Hoosier work ethic,” says Jim Riggs, CEO of NTN Driveshaft.

Other leading export industries in Indiana are pharmaceuticals, biomedical equipment, industrial machinery, and computer and electronic products. News in these other sectors includes Excellon Technologies’ (electronic components) $2.1 million expansion in Fort Wayne, creating 415 new jobs, and Hoist Liftruck’s (heavy-duty forklifts) moving of its operations from southwest suburban Bedford Park in Illinois to East Chicago, Indiana, where it will invest $41.6 million and create up to 500 new positions over the next few years.

Missouri Missouri is known for its diverse economy, low business costs, and strong work ethic. The Tax Foundation recently ranked the Show Me State as third-best in the country for corporate income tax and 17th for best overall tax climate. Missouri has successfully diversified from traditional resource-based industries such as agriculture into bioscience, advanced manufacturing, alternative energy, and other high-tech sectors such as IT and software.

High-growth industries in Missouri include bioscience, advanced manufacturing, healthcare, transportation and logistics, IT, and software. In fact, in 2015 the U.S. Chamber ranked Missouri as 13th-best in the country for high-tech job growth. This is well demonstrated by World Wide Technology’s decision to build an $80 million, six-story headquarters building in St. Louis, adding 500 new jobs over the next several years. World Wide Technology is a systems integrator with nearly $7 billion in annual revenue.

Agriculture and food processing are other key drivers of the Missouri economy. In Columbia, Kraft Heinz is investing $113.8 million to build a 25,000-square-foot addition to its existing facility. In another announcement, Daily’s Premium Meats will construct a $41.5 million, 100,000-square-foot meat-processing facility, creating 212 new jobs in St. Joseph.

Kansas City is growing center for financial/professional services and headquarters facilities. For example, TriWest Healthcare Alliance is building a $10.4 million facility that will employ 500 workers. Littler, a global employment and labor law practice, recently opened its new $13.6 million, 53,000-square-foot, global services center in Kansas City. “We chose Kansas City because of the quality and diversity of its labor force, location in the central time zone, and cost benefits,” indicates Littler’s COO Robert Domingues.

Wisconsin Wisconsin’s economy is driven by manufacturing, agriculture, and healthcare. It continues to diversify into high-tech industries such as water science, food production, power and energy, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, IT, and gaming. Anchored by the University of Wisconsin, Madison continues to evolve as a center for scientific research and collaboration.

A wide range of products are manufactured in Wisconsin, ranging from paper and cardboard to transportation equipment, heavy machinery, appliances, and biomedical devices/products. In Fitchburg, Sub-Zero Group, a leading manufacturer of luxury appliances, is undertaking a $62.3 million, 400,000-square-foot expansion of its manufacturing plant that will more than double the size of its current facility. In Beloit, Georgia-based Pratt Industries is building a $52.4 million, 350,000-square-foot corrugated box plant.

Biotechnology/medical devices continue to grow as a vital sector for the Wisconsin economy. Phillips-Medisize, a contract medical technology manufacturer, has announced it will undertake a $35 million expansion at its facilities throughout the state, a move that is expected to create 484 new jobs. This will include expanded metal injection molding capabilities as well as cleanroom manufacturing and assembly operations.

In Madison, Exact Sciences Corporation, the developer of a promising colorectal cancer test, plans to invest $26.2 million to expand its operations and hire 758 workers by the end of 2020, in return for $9 million in tax credits — one of the largest awards ever offered by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation. “This is an extraordinary incentive to continue growing jobs and our company, right here in Wisconsin,” states Kevin Conroy, chairman and CEO of Exact Sciences.

MethodologyArea Development’s annual Gold and Silver Shovel Awards recognize states for their achievements in attracting high-value investment projects that will create a significant number of new jobs in their communities. We collected information from all 50 states about their top-10 job-creation and investment projects initiated in 2015 (only those projects that actually had monies invested, “broke ground,” began an expansion, started new hiring, etc. were considered). Based on a combination of weighted factors — including the number of new jobs to be created in relation to the state’s population, the combined dollar amount of the investments, the number of new facilities, the diversity of industry represented — six states achieving the highest weighted overall scores were awarded Area Development’s 2016 Gold Shovels in five population categories: 12+ million, 8+ to 12 million, 5+ to 8 million, 3+ to 5 million, and fewer than 3 million. Runners-up in each of these population categories were awarded 2016 Silver Shovels.