ABB 2006/7 | State Profiles | Mid West region | Missouri

As the US’s fifth most diversified economy, Missouri possesses a robust and resilient economic environment. Financial services, warehouse/distribution, professional services and wholesale telecommunications industries are expanding and the state is targeting several high-technology industries for future growth.

The state is a leader in aerospace and automobile manufacturing and is among the top producers of chemicals, appliances, greeting cards and food products. However, Missouri is also rapidly becoming an international plant and life sciences centre supported by a sophisticated network of world-renowned research centres – like the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St Louis, the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City, the Life Sciences Center at the University of Missouri-Columbia and the University of Missouri Technology Park at Fort Leonard Wood.

Natura l incentives

The diverse businesses and emerging industry clusters in Missouri enjoy a business climate made up of numerous natural incentives, including superior educational facilities; a skilled, productive labour force; an excellent transportation network capable of penetrating worldwide markets; a central location; low tax burden; and a high quality of life.

There are over 100 higher education institutions here, including Washington University, the third ranked medical school in the nation. Many secondary education facilities partner with the state to help boost the workforce’s skills. As a result, the state’s workers portray all of the characteristics associated with the strong Midwestern work ethic: skilled, productive, dependable.

Missouri’s central location provides quick access to national and international markets: over 32,000 miles of highway and 10 major interstates; approximately 500 aviation facilities; over 4,000 miles of railways; and 14 ports, along more than 1,000 miles of navigable waterway via the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. Businesses located here are within a 500-mile radius of 41% of the total US effective buying income and 44% of total US wholesale trade. The state is also conveniently located along the developing NAFTA trade routes to major markets in Canada, Mexico, Central and South America and the Far East.

Better place to do business

To enhance Missouri’s good business climate, this spring the Missouri General Assembly quickly passed Governor Matt Blunt’s broad, pro-business legislative agenda to make the Show Me State an even better and fairer place to do business. Both sweeping workers’ compensation and litigation reforms were signed into law, along with a new incentive programme astutely tied directly to a company’s creation of high-paying, family-supporting jobs. Called the Missouri Quality Jobs Act, this initiative targets the three economic areas – small and expanding businesses, advanced technology companies, and high impact projects. It also contains a business retention provision.

These new initiatives are already reducing the cost of conducting business in Missouri and creating an even greater competitive advantage for business growth. Combine these pro-business initiatives with natural incentives and it is evident Missouri means business.

For more information, contact:
Missouri Department of Economic Development
PO Box 118, Jefferson City, MO 65102
Tel: +1 573 751 9045
Fax: +1 573 751 7384
E-mail: ecodev@ded.mo.gov
Website: www.missouridevelopment.org

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