USAA, which specializes in financial services for military members and their families, says initial expansions will be in San Antonio and Phoenix. The San Antonio expansion could bring as many as 1,000 new jobs by the end of 2015 to its headquarters, where it already employs more than 16,400 people, and another 1,000 jobs to Phoenix.

Categories: Deals, Job Creation, Site Selection
Tagged: Charlotte, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina manufacturing, Texas jobs,

A focus on higher education and a wealth of workforce talent are top assets in cities recently ranked among the best places for business and careers.

Categories: Job Creation, Site Selection
Tagged: best cities for business, best cities for careers, Charlotte, colleges and universities, Nashville TN, NC, talent attraction, Texas, The Heartland, Utah, workforce,

Aerospace, automotive, fashion and musical instruments top the week’s expansion, job creation and site selection news: In the Charlotte region, United Technologies Corp. plans to place its combined Aerospace Systems headquarters in Charlotte following the completion of its acquisition of Goodrich Corp.  The company plans to create 325 UTC jobs over the next five years and invest at least [...]

Categories: Job Creation, Site Selection
Tagged: Charlotte, Ford, Kentucky auto manufacturing, North Carolina, Ralph Lauren, Southwest Airlines, Sweetwater Sound, Tennessee, Texas, United Technologies,

Economic development organizations sometimes have to perform a high-wire act in promoting their central business districts without ignoring – or worse, harming – other business districts in the community.

Categories: Quality of Life
Tagged: Charlotte, Downtowns, Nashville, Quality of Place, Richard Florida, Wichita,

By 2020, the U.S. is expected to add nearly 7 million creative class jobs. Where will these jobs be? Workers may not have to go to a big city to find them anymore. They are becoming an integral part of the creative economy growing across the U.S.

Categories: Job Creation, Workforce Development
Tagged: Charlotte, creative class, creative economy, knowledge-based jobs, manufacturing, N.C., Nashville Tenn., recession, Richard Florida, small cities, workforce,

A number of communities are betting that it does – that luring the right type of talent will give them an edge in bringing in new investment and retaining the business they already have.

Categories: Quality of Life
Tagged: Charlotte, Downtowns, Nashville, Partnership 2020, Quality of Place, quality of workforce, recruitment, Wichita,

What is the future face of business in the U.S.? It’s growing more and more diverse. Minorities are moving outside of traditional ethnic hubs and large, historically diverse metros into big and small cities across the South and Midwest — and many are filling a gap in entrepreneurship left by retiring baby boomers.

Categories: Research
Tagged: 2010 Census, African Americans, Asians, Brookings Institute, Charlotte, diversity, entrepreneurs, Hispanics, Joel Kotkin, Kansas, Midwest, minorities, Nashville, Nebraska, Northeast Ohio, Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, population, South, Texas, The Heartland,