Virginia scores well in regional workforce development ranking

Virginia ranks at the top of its region in a recent examination of workforce development throughout the U.S.

Site Selection magazine named the commonwealth No. 1 for the eight-state Atlantic region in its 2018 Regional Workforce Development Rankings.

The Old Dominion was followed in the regional ranking by: Maryland, second; Georgia, third; North Carolina, fourth; Florida, fifth; Delaware, sixth; South Carolina, seventh; and West Virginia, eighth.

The magazine ranked the states in seven regions using five criteria:

The workforce and education sub-ranking used by CNBC in its America’s Top States for Business 2017;

The labor supply sub-rankings for Forbes’ Best States for Business 2017;

U.S. News’ rankings for its 2017 Best States for Education;

ACT National Career Readiness Certificate (NCRC) rankings;

And average number of workforce development enactments passed in 2015 and 2016.

The magazine said the CNBC and Forbes sub-rankings were weighted more heavily than other criteria because of their “robustness and breadth.” The other categories were weighted equally. The top states in other regions were:

Northeast (nine states): Massachusetts

East North Central (five states): Illinois

West North Central (seven states): Iowa

South Central (eight states): Texas

Pacific (five states): Washington

Mountain (eight states): Colorado

Among other Virginia neighbors, Tennessee ranked second and Kentucky was sixth among South Central states.