Cost-juggling: It’s often a major concern in locating operations, particularly the distribution facility juggle of calculating labor costs vs. the nearby market’s buying power.
Governmental management skills can be the difference between responsiveness and neglect, which can have a huge impact on corporate facilities’ performance.
You don’t hire kids. But you better pick kid-friendly areas for your facilities — unless you want to spend a fortune retaining workers.
Labor Pay vs. Consumer Income:
Connecticut No. 1 in Both
Connecticut, though, ranks No. 1 for both personal income per resident and average annual salary, according to the Statistical Abstract of the United States. And six other U.S. states made both top 10s: Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey and New York.
The three states making the pay top 10 only are No. 5 California, No. 6 Alaska and No. 8 Michigan. The three in the personal income top 10 only are No. 7 New Hampshire, No. 9 Colorado and No. 10 Washington (maybe Bill Gates’ pay packet tilted the scales?).
Phoenix, Austin Top City Management Rankings
Phoenix and Austin, Texas, are kings of the U.S. metro management hill. At least that’s the view of “Grading the Cities,” a new joint study by Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Public Affairs and Governing magazine (www.governing.com).
Hailed by many scholars as the most comprehensive analysis ever of U.S. city government, the study of the 35 U.S. cities with the largest revenue bases. graded only 13 cities as B or better.
(Eight others scored B-.)
But study Director Patricia Ingraham asserts, “The days of mediocre city management are coming to an end.” But Ingraham also cautions, “Few cities are building huge maintenance costs for roads and other projects into their long-term capital budgets.”
Seattle Most ‘Kid-Friendly’
Major U.S. City
Among major U.S. cities, Seattle is the most kid-friendly, according to Zero Population Growth’s (www.zpg.org) “The Kid-Friendly Cities Report Card.” The 17 ranking factors include crime, dropout, teen birth and infant mortality rates, plus extreme growth and declining populations, which downgraded scores. Only California, with Nos. 2-4, had more that one member of the kid-friendly top 10.
