International Women’s Day has come and gone, but the need for more women
in the workforce is an everyday event. A new 10-page research note from
Dawn Holland and Katrina Ell at Moody’s Analytics, “Close the Gender Gap to Unlock Productivity
Gains,” finds that, according to the World Economic Forum’s
Global Gender Gap Index — which measures gender parity across economic,
educational, health and political dimensions — at the current rate, it
will take 132 years to reach full parity.
Examining the gap in senior and middle management positions, the authors
find that women’s share of those roles in the UK, France and Turkey
actually declined from 2010 to 2019. In an interview with Marketplace Senior Reporter Stephanie
Hughes, former fashion stylist Anna Maria Diaz called attention
to another aspect contributing to the gap: whether compensation and
benefits are enough to cover childcare. “I think nobody really talks
about what the first maybe four years of childcare really cost,” she
told Hughes.
The Moody’s report says closing the gender gap in labor force
participation and the gender gap in management in OECD countries “can
raise global economic activity by approximately 7%, or about $7 trillion
in today’s dollars. Closing the gaps in large emerging economies,
including India, would raise that potential further.” A separate 2022 report from the United Nations
indicates women’s exclusion from the digital world alone has contributed
to a $1 trillion loss in the GDP of low- and middle-income countries in
the last decade. “Without meaningful intervention and change, this loss
in GDP is anticipated to grow to $ 1.5 trillion by 2025,” says a note
this week from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
“According to the World Bank, there would be economic gains in the order
of $5-6 trillion if women were supported to start and scale new
businesses at the same rate as men,” says the USPTO, which plans to join
with dozens of other nations’ IP offices in a focus on women when World Intellectual Property Day comes around on
April 26, 2023. — Adam Bruns
Gain immediate access to every piece in the newly published March 2023 issue of Site Selection, including
all of the issue’s highly anticipated rankings; features on data
centers, airport cities, biopharma and agribusiness; eight state
spotlights; the Duke Energy Florida Investment Report; six Site
Selection Investment Profiles; the IAMC Insider; international news from
Ontario, Qatar, Romania and beyond; and the full array of messages from
125 global organizations who know it pays to advertise with the No. 1 publication in
the field.
Named America’s fourth best state for business by CNBC in 2022, Colorado
is implementing measures across a number of areas that figure to keep
the state in the upper echelon for years to come.
“How Undersea Cables Drive Onshore Site
Decisions,” published here three years ago, offers
one of those intriguing perspectives you want to keep tabs
on when it comes to data center investments and the larger
digital economy. Now our primary source for that piece,
TeleGeography, has come out with its updated 2023 submarine cable map. Watch Site
Selection for continuing insights from this hidden but vital
global infrastructure network.
PROJECT WATCH
Brazil
CloudHQ, the global data center provider that’s part of the Fateh Family
Office and was founded by Hossein Fateh, former CEO and co-founder of
DuPont Fabros Technology, has broken ground on this massive data center
campus in Paulinia in Sao Paulo. Expected to open in 2024, it’s
projected to be the largest data center campus in Latin America with 144
MW of capacity in its first phase and 288 MW in future phases, according
to multiple reports. “A 225MW power substation, with a potential for
400MW, will supply the campus,” says a report from Baxtel. “In the first
half of 2024, the transmission lines connecting the facility to the grid
are expected to be finished.”
Reports by El Economista and others note the completion of this new
cosmetics and hygiene products plant in Valencia from Quimi Romar, which
manufactures the Romar Global Care product line. The new facility is
part of a move of operations to Sagunto from the company’s original home
base in Náquera and will double the operation’s production and storage
capacity. The site is located within the Eucolsa industrial estate. The
company and its developer in November reached a tax abatement and hiring
agreement with the Sagunto city government.
Laurens County, South Carolina, is brimming with commercial and
industrial potential along nearby Interstate I-85, recently referred to
as “the Main Street of the New South.” The county’s newest industrial
park, the Connexial Center, is in close proximity to I-85, I-26, and
I-385 industrial corridor, which provides access to the most efficient
port on the East Coast as well as Interstate and rail connecting to more
than 100 million consumers in a day’s drive.
One of seven in Laurens County, the Connexial Center is a Class A
industrial park with 450 developable acres of prime industrial property
ready for investment, development, and growth. All utilities — including
transmission and substation — onsite. And all due diligence has been
completed, providing an efficient path for companies looking to move
operations forward, faster. In addition, the current Laurens County
workforce consists of over 468,000 people within a 45-minute drive time
radius. For more information, visit www.growlaurenscounty.com.
PHOTO OF THE
DAY
Photo by Paul Vu/HANA courtesy of Aaron Neubert Architects and v2com
newswire
If you ever watched “The Jetsons,” “Scooby-Doo” or “The Flintstones,”
you may not have known they all were cooked up by Hanna-Berra in a
one-story, windowless building known as “The Bunker” on Cahuenga
Boulevard in South Studio City, California. Now it’s been adapted as a
headquarters for an unnamed film production company by ANX/Aaron Neubert
Architects, which says, “The primary challenge was converting the
hermetically sealed former animation studio into a naturally
illuminated, professional, yet domestically scaled office environment,
while simultaneously addressing the technical challenges of a
forward-thinking film production facility.” Paying homage to the
project’s history, “the firm’s solution opted to reuse the entirety of
the existing structure,” a release explains. “Roof trusses and masonry
block walls within the communal spaces were exposed, while
sound-isolated private offices were introduced around the perimeter.
Within the communal spaces, the firm created numerous co-working and
socialization zones, expanding the ‘domestic’ nature of the space.”
There is some intriguing real estate history attached to the
legacy Hanna-Barbera property on Cahuenga.
