Roane Economic Snapshot in 2009 Roane Alliance Annual Report
Wednesday February 24, 2010
Kingston, TN -- The Roane Alliance 2009 Annual Report was released this week providing a snapshot of the economic situation in the county over the past year.
"To some folks in Roane County, the best thing about 2009 was that it's over,' Leslie Henderson, President and CEO of The Roane Alliance said in her introduction to this year's annual report. " From those who lost their jobs, to those who were trying to manage their small businesses, to those stretching their budgets after their nest eggs had shrunk, to those affected by the tragic TVA Kingston Steam Plant ash spill -- it certainly was a trying year."
But, she continued, "Everything is relative." So while the report does detail some of the challenges 2009 brought and their affects on the county's economy - not the least of which were more than 200 net job losses -- there were also several significant bright spots in it as well. For instance:
- Roane County's unemployment rate throughout the year remained lower than the state's and the country as a whole;
- Roane's per capita income also marked continuing gains, rising above $30,000 a year for the first time;
- The hotel/motel industry got a surprising boost from the "boom' of temporary workers brought into our area to work on the ash spill clean-up;
- Four new industries opened their doors for business at Roane Regional Business and Technology Park, making 14 new companies who now call Roane Regional their home.
The report also contains sections highlighting some of each one of the partner's programming, from the chamber's new "green" initiatives, to the growth of the Alliance's on-line presence and marketing successes, to the numerous promotional activities held throughout year to reinforce the message of the Alliance's "Education Matters!" initiative.
"This report shows that the Alliance, and Roane County, did remarkably well through 2009, which we all know was a really tough year," Alliance Board Chair Keith Uselton said. "I hope you will all read through it to see that we have much to be thankful for and much to be proud of."
The full report is available on the Roane Alliance's website at: http://www.roanealliance.org/about/index.html.
The Alliance is Roane County's economic development organization and consists of both public and private organizations, including the Roane County Chamber of Commerce, the Roane County Industrial Development Board and the Roane County Visitors Bureau.
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