Madison County's job growth state's best

Saturday, March 19, 2005

From staff reports
Huntsville Times

5,456 announced for '04 is top annual total for area, official says

Madison County led job growth in the state last year, with 5,456 announced jobs, according to the Alabama Development Office.

The job figures were included in ADO's 2004 New and Expanding Industry Report.

In all, 571 projects were announced in 2004, representing 24,294 new jobs for Alabamians, according to the report.

"We achieved record-breaking job growth in 2004 - the largest annual total documented for Madison County," said Jim Link, chairman of the board of the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce.

Madison County has consistently been a state leader in announced jobs.

"In the last 25 years, we've held the No. 1 spot 19 times and never ranked lower than third," said Brad Jones, the chamber's vice chairman of economic development.

A recent report by the chamber reflected a nearly even-split between manufacturing and non-manufacturing new jobs in 2004. The county's job growth, as reflected in ADO's report, was generated from four new companies and 38 expanding companies in primary business sectors including aerospace, defense and manufacturing. Figures do not include employment in sectors such as retail, personal services and health care.

Overall, the ADO report shows that more than $2.7 million was invested in the state's economy.