XPost: mn.politics, alt.business, alt.politics.democrats
XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, talk.politics.guns, sac.politics

Plenty of Minnesota businesses are growing, but they’re not always
choosing to build major expansion projects here, according to a new
report by the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce

Business expansion projects appear to be leaving Minnesota faster
than they’re coming in.

That was one of the takeaways from a new report released by the
Minnesota Chamber of Commerce on Thursday. From 2020 through 2022, Minnesota-based companies invested about $10.6 billion in 155
projects outside of the state, according to the report. At the same
time, though, companies headquartered outside Minnesota invested
just $4 billion in 101 projects here.

The report said that amounts to a $6.6 billion “net investment
deficit” in Minnesota. Sean O’Neil, the chamber’s director of
economic development and research, said it’s the first time his
organization has attempted to quantify business investments coming
into and out of Minnesota. He noted that it’s an area that’s not
quite as well defined as things like unemployment rates, which are
reported based on nationally accepted benchmarks.

But he maintains that the inflow and outflow of expansion projects
is something that warrants further attention. Going forward, the
chamber aims to release an annual report on the topic. “I think this
is something for us to continue investigate further, to continue
thinking about what that means for our economy,” O’Neil said in an interview Thursday morning.

For context, it is worth noting there’s been an uptick in business
expansions throughout Minnesota and nationally since 2021. Minnesota
is set to welcome at least two multibillion-dollar data centers in
the near future, for instance. The report also calls out a $25
million plastics recycling facility set to rise in Rogers. Plus,
just this week, Lockheed Martin announced plans to build a new St.
Paul facility that will employ more than 100 people.

In the bigger picture, though, the report notes that Minnesota has
been seeing fewer expansion projects than its peers in the Midwest,
and nationally. Between 2018 and 2022, Ohio welcomed a whopping
2,307 new and expansion projects, while Minnesota welcomed just 383
during that same time period. Indiana and Michigan also brought in
987 and 720 projects, respectively.

“Minnesota lags its peers in the Midwest, consistently ranking near
the bottom in both total projects and projects per capita,” the
report stated.

https://tcbmag.com/minnesota-losing-out-on-business-expansions/

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