< Previous96 NOVEMBER 2018 SI T E S E L E C T IO NWhen the Economy Is Sick,Look to Healthcare forThe CureJust as the lines of value have been blurred between the traditional debt-ridden four-year college degree vs. community college and associate’s degrees, technology has blurred the lines among sectors, jobs and gigs, and redrawn the map when it comes to weathering an economic downturn.A June report by three economists affi liated with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics off ers healthcare sector insights from the Great Recession of December to June . Among the questions it asks: “Did employment in healthcare mirror that of the overall economy, or was healthcare recession-proof?”Here’s the answer right up front: e Great Recession “had little negative eff ect on job growth in healthcare compared with its eff ect on the national economy,” the authors conclude. “For the most part, this was true regardless of occupational setting or geographic location.”At its peak, the Great Recession caused U.S. unemployment to reach percent in October , and caused percent of American households to experience “some sort of distress, as measured by unemployment, negative home equity, arrears in mortgage payments, home foreclosures, or substantial losses in retirement savings.”But healthcare kept sailing. Here’s an excerpt from the report: roughout the nation, healthcare employment increased by . percent, or . million jobs, during the period through . By contrast, total nonfarm employment grew by . percent, or . million jobs, during this same period. us, during this -year timeframe, . percent of all national job growth occurred in healthcare.In contrast to the uneven national job picture, job growth in the healthcare industries was steady, averaging more than , new jobs each year over the -year period. is steady increase in healthcare employment, coupled with the marked fl uctuation in national employment, points out the importance of the healthcare industries to the national economy. In , healthcare jobs represented . percent of the national job base. By , the share had increased to . percent, or one out of every eight jobs in by ADAM BRUNSadam.br uns @ site s ele c tion.c omRECESSION-PROOF INDUSTRIESThe University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora is one of many campuses well positioned for growth in health services jobs.Photo courtesy of CU Anschutz98 NOVEMBER 2018 SI T E S E L E C T IO Nthe nation. During the Great Recession, healthcare employment expanded, increasing by 852,000 jobs, or 6.6 percent.Concentrating on employment presents only a partial picture. We must also consider the impact of the recession on overall wages. During the 2001–14 period, average wages in both the healthcare industries and the national economy increased.In 2001, the average healthcare worker had a yearly wage of $35,220. By 2014, this wage had increased by 45.6 percent, to $51,276. In the overall economy, yearly wages increased by 41.9 percent during the same period, from $36,157 to $51,296.Info for the Information EconomyCould healthcare continue to stay strong if another downturn is around the corner? BLS projections from October 2017 examine expected changes in the U.S. economy over 2016-2026, covering demographics, GDP, productivity and occupations. Among the highlights:The labor force is projected to grow from 159.2 million people in 2016 to 169.7 million people in 2026.Healthcare and related occupations account for 16 of the 30 fastest growing occupations from 2016 to 2026. Other occupations in the top 30 are generally energy-related occupations or employed in computer and information industries. In addition to mining, energy jobs on the upswing will include oil and gas jobs such as roustabouts, service unit operators, rotary drill operators, and derrick operators.Indeed, by 2026, says the BLS, the service-providing industry sectors are projected to account for more than 81 percent of all wage and salary jobs in the economy and for most of the job growth. The health care and social assistance sector will account for more than one-third of the jobs added over the projections decade, and also have the fastest growth in real output, increasing at 3.1 percent annually. The two groups expected to drop are production occupations (-4.3 percent) and farming, fishing, and forestry occupations (-0.3 percent). Manufacturing industries are projected to lose about 110,300 jobs, while office and administrative jobs will decline by 256,700 positions.A sector expected to surge in output is the information sector, with five of the 20 fastest-growing industries in terms of real output, three of which the BLS says are the fastest growing real output industries in the economy. Telecommunications, for example, is expected to see annual real output growth of 5.3 percent.But the same sector is expected to have “rapidly declining” wage and salary employment due to new technology increasing productivity. The same can be said for the postal service and several manufacturing sectors such as textiles and apparel.However, one projection may already need revision, as the BLS attributes the coming manufacturing fall-off to factors that include “automation and outsourcing to overseas production for cheaper labor.” Though the global search for cheaper but still effective labor is perennial, the tax cuts of early 2018, among other things, have driven both profits and some previously offshored functions back to the U.S.Whether they come back or not, healthcare and social assistance will be there to catch us, as hospitals and the offices of physicians and other health practitioners will be among the leaders in real output. “The aging of the population and an expected rise in chronic conditions, such as diabetes, will lead to higher demand of all types of healthcare services,” said the BLS. Healthcare SupportPersonal Care & ServiceHealthcare Practitioner & TechnicalCommunity & Social ServicesComputer & MathConstruction & ExtractionAll OccupationsCaliforniaTexasNew YorkFloridaPennsylvaniaOhioIllinoisMichiganNorth CarolinaMassachusettsLocal Health Services ClusterEmployment by State 2016Projected Percent Changeby select occupational groups, 2016-260 5 10 15 20 250 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2MillionsPercentSource: U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsSource: U.S. Cluster Mapping Project100 NOVEMBER 2018 SI T E S E L E C T IO NWorld TradeWindows onPORTS & FREE TRADE ZONESExperts provide their unique perspectives on the top free zones in the world.2018Ask any expert on economic zones, and they’ll always have a caveat: It’s difficult if not nearly impossible to compare zones across world regions due to a paucity of data or a lack of apples-to-apples metrics by which to measure their performance.To try to solve these issues, one recent academic effort even goes so far as to compare intensities of light from satellite photos of zones as a proxy for activity — which itself has the huge caveat of assigning credit to zones where energy is being burned the most intensely. That doesn’t necessarily translate to a zone producing the most value or performing at a peak level for occupiers.This year Site Selection is able to bring a new perspective to this conundrum in multiple forms, the first of which we present here. We surveyed our chief audience — the global corporate investor and site consultant community — asking them to name their picks for Top Free Trade Zones in the world, arranged by region, based on their experience with operations around the world. With notes gathered by our research team, those selections populate the pages that follow.During the first week of November, we’ll reveal other dimensions of this research at www.siteselection.com. For one, we worked with valuable data from our friends at Investment Consulting Associates, who from December 2010 through January 2018 tracked 2,722 investment projects in more than 280 non-U.S. free zones. With the valuable guidance of our director of programming and analytics Daniel Boyer, we created two indices: one that ranks the top 20 zones by straight tallies of projects and their related capital investment and job creation numbers; and a second that ranks the top 20 on a per-capita basis using country-level population figures.Last but not least, we have evaluated U.S. Foreign-Trade Zones based on the most recent annual figures from the U.S. FTZ Board listing numbers of resident production and warehouse operations in each of the zones. We tallied those numbers in five different indices, then cross-indexed to come up with our top 20, which you’ll also find posted by early November at our home page.A common thread? Most of the best economic zones in the world have a port or airport close at hand, and a team of helping hands even closer.102 NOVEMBER 2018 SI T E S E L E C T IO NAfricaAsia Paci cTanger Med Zones, Moroccowww.tangerindustrialfreezone.com • Tanger Free Zone, created in 1999, is an industrial and logistics hub in Morocco that supports a multitude of industrial activities such as Automotive, Food, Electronics, IT Engineering and Aviation.• Tanger Free Zone’s Tanger Med port gives it a distinct geographical competitive edge, allowing it to serve Europe in under three days, America in 10 and Asia in 20. Its investment incentives provide competitive tax, administrative and customs bene ts. The region has 22 training centers that have adapted to the needs of growing sectors lled with a young and dynamic population.Incheon Free Economic Zone, South Koreawww.ifez.go.kr • South Korea’s IFEZ includes Incheon International Airport, the world’s No. 1 airport service for eight years and home to the world’s second largest air network.• Businesses have ongoing support from the Korean government through tax bene ts, nancial support, land supply subsidy, intellectual property protection, and deregulation of foreign invested companies. • Korea has a highly skilled workforce matriculating through its world-renowned universities and growing major metro areas.Lekki Free Zone, Nigerialfzdc.org • In 2020, the Lekki Deep Seaport, a US$1.5-billion venture, will be completed, with depths up to 16 meters (52.5 ft.) to allow more cargo capacity and support commercial operations.• Nigeria is the seventh most populous country in the world with 19 investment rich sectors including Petroleum, Agriculture, Telecommunications, Manufacturing, Construction and Mineral Resources. • Nigeria is the world’s 12th largest producer of petroleum. It contains a vast category of resources ranging from natural gas, tin, iron ore, coal, limestone, lead, zinc, and arable land.Daegu–Gyeongbuk Free Economic Zone, South Koreawww.dgfez.go.kr • The DGFEZ has excellent R&D support and infrastructure consisting of 35 government research institutes, 11 government-designed R&D centers and ve industry support centers.• The DGFEZ offers nancial incentives for foreign-invested companies such as a 100-percent exemption of corporate income tax from three to ve years based on requirements. • The DGFEZ automobile sector is the largest in Korea, producing just shy of 2 million units a year. This sector includes automakers such as Hyundai, Renault and GM Korea. Site Selection’s Top Free Trade Zone WinnersMethodology: Survey of global corporate investors and site consultants2018Next >