Tri-Cities named a top place for a fresh start

KENNEWICK – The Tri-Cities is ranked as the third-best place in the U.S. to make a fresh start for people battered by the ongoing recession, says Business Week.

The recent article highlights Kennewick-Pasco-Richland as a place where jobs can be found and where homes are affordable.

Yakima came in at No. 4 on the list.

The Tri-Cities has a strong manufacturing, food processing, retail trade and services economy, and about 24 percent of companies plan to hire more employees from July through September, the article said.

Professional and business services, education and health services, leisure and hospitality, and government sectors also offer great job opportunities, said the story based on estimates from the employment services firm Manpower.

The write-up refers to the influx of federal money as an economy booster.

Carl Adrian, president and CEO of Tri-City Development Council, said besides helping clean up Hanford, the federal money is supporting the development of cutting edge technologies at Richland’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

The local economy also has become diversified with the growth of the food processing and health care industries, he said.

And, he added, the increasing number of national chain retail stores in the Tri-Cities also suggests “We are popping up on a lot of people’s radar.”

A steady flow of federal money into the community has helped retail and wholesale trade develop, too, said C. Mark Smith, Richland’s former economic development manager. “We’ve reached a critical mass, and we are able to sustain it.”

Anchorage, Alaska, and Provo-Orem, Utah, were the two communities ahead of the Tri-Cities. Yakima was ranked fourth and Omaha, Neb./Council Bluffs, Iowa placed fifth in the Business Week list. The article, titled “Where Struggling Americans Can Find a Fresh Start,” can be read at www.businessweek.com.