The number of new businesses being started in Tennessee continued to grow in the third quarter of 2016, marking five years of continuous business growth of a key barometer economists say signals even more growth in 2017.
And in the past year, the fastest growth in new business starts came in Hamilton County where Chattanooga is trying to encourage more business startups with the state’s biggest business incubator and several new accelerator and investment funds.
“Hamilton County showed especially strong growth in the past year and we also saw the fastest job growth in the state in nearby Cleveland,” said Dr. William F. Fox, director of the Boyd Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Tennessee. “New entity filings have risen for a very impressive five straight years, evidencing a very solid Tennessee economy and signaling that more growth is expected through 2017.”
Statewide, there were 8,898 new entity filings in the third quarter, a 7.3 percent increase over the third quarter of 2015. This marks the 20th consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year growth, boosting the number of active business entities in the state to 241,619 as of Oct. 1.
“We’ve seen this trend for quite some time, but reaching five years of continuous growth highlights why having the right leadership can make the Volunteer State a premier destination for businesses and industries from across the globe,” Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett said.