Governor Robert Bentley details plans to accelerate job creation, support business

MONTGOMERY, Alabama – In his State of the State address tonight, Governor Robert Bentley highlighted efforts to attract additional investment to Alabama and new approaches to assist small business and create new pathways to careers for students.

Governor Bentley told legislative leaders and top state officials that he is not content that unemployment in Alabama has dropped to a five-year low of 6.2 percent, the lowest rate in the Deep South. And even though Alabama has gained more than 59,000 jobs since he took office in 2011, Governor Bentley said more work is needed.

Strategic economic development efforts to attract investment from around the world represent one way to create new jobs. Two months ago, Governor Bentley recounted, he was in Tokyo on a trade mission, sitting on a bus next to the chief executive of Otsuka, the Japanese pharmaceutical giant that operates the Pharmavite vitamin plant in Lee County.