Birmingham and Huntsville both saw 2.4 percent year-over-year job growth last year, ranking third among peer cities behind only Nashville and Charlotte.
In Birmingham, the 547,400 reported jobs surpassed the pre-recession peak of 543,000 jobs, set in December 2007, the Birmingham Business Alliance reports.
“We finally emerged from the recession in the first half of the year,” says BBA’s interim CEO Fred McCallum.
Birmingham is working to expand economic growth, McCallum says, noting particularly:
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- Launch of the Birmingham BizHub website to help entrepreneurs and small businesses tap local resources
- BBA participation in a bioscience trade mission to Ireland.
- Magic City Summer internship program, which helps students create ties to the local business community
- Legislative efforts to improve the business climate
- Workforce development programs
So far this year, local companies have put $364 million into capital investments, creating 569 jobs, McCallum says. Among them, DC Blox has opened the first phase of its new data center and Amazon is nearing completion on a new fulfillment center.
