The Memphis economy grew to a record high of $102.9 billion last year.
Credit: Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED)
The Greater Memphis Chamber announced the landmark last week, calling it “impressive” and a ”historic milestone.” It was the first time the Memphis Gross Regional Product (GRP) pushed over $100 billion. GRP is the total value of all products and services sold in a metro area.
The Memphis economy increased by nearly 6 percent from 2022 to 2023, growing by $6 billion. Over the last five years, the economy grew by 32.3 percent, which closely aligns with the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of 34.1 percent.
“Breaking through the $100 billion GRP barrier is a remarkable milestone for Memphis,” said GMC president and CEO Ted Townsend. “This achievement, along with our record employment numbers, really highlights what we’ve always believed — Memphis is a place where business thrives. … We’re not just growing; we’re truly transforming our economy and opening up exciting new opportunities for our region.”
Key highlights:
• Memphis ranked 6th among peer cities in GRP in 2023.
• 5 percent average annual GRP growth over the past five years
• Record employment levels reaching 656,600 jobs
• Unemployment rate of 4.3 percent, nearly matching the national average
“This economic milestone aligns with the region’s strong employment recovery, as Memphis surpasses its pre-pandemic employment levels, showcasing the market’s vigorous recovery and ongoing growth trajectory, “ the Chamber said in a news release.
For context, the Nashville metro, which includes the large suburb of Murfreesboro and the wealthy suburbs of Franklin and Brentwood, had a GRP of $204 million last year. The figure made it the largest economy in Tennessee, followed by Memphis.
Credit: Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED)
As for the rest of the top five economies in Tennessee, the Knoxville MSA ranked third with a GRP of $64.3 billion last year.
A good fact is hard to find, especially in these truth-fluid times. But it’s nice to know there are a few solid ones you can stand upon.
That was my thinking as I pitched this story to our editor, Shara Clark. Then I started compiling these facts and realized even some of them can be fluid. A classic example: Which was the first rock-and-roll song, “Rocket 88” or “That’s All Right”? Either one still makes Memphis the “birthplace of rock-and-roll,” though. Right?
Also, some data rhyme and you have to pick them apart. Example: The current graduation rate for Memphis-Shelby County Schools is 87.3 percent. But the Memphis population with only a high school degree is 31 percent. Both facts are listed as just “Memphis graduates” in a couple of datasets.
Keep all this in mind as you peruse our list of facts. We’ve tried hard to hit the middle of the dartboard. But nailing down a fact can be a slippery thing sometimes. So if you have a quibble and you’d like to discuss, or if we’re plain wrong and you’d like a correction or clarification, please email me at toby@memphisflyer.com. — Toby Sells
History
• Original inhabitants: Chickasaw Nation
• First European explorer: Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto (1541)
• Ceded from the Chickasaws to the U.S. in the Jackson Purchase (1818)
• City founded in 1819 by John Overton, James Winchester, and Andrew Jackson
• Named after the ancient capital of Egypt on the Nile River
• Original name (anglicized as Men-nefer) means “enduring and beautiful”
• Modern city incorporated as a city: 1826
• Yellow fever epidemics: late 1870s
• Surrendered its charter: 1879
• New city charter granted: 1893
• Elvis Presley records “That’s All Right” at Sun Studio in 1954; widely considered to be the first rock-and-roll record ever recorded
• Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination: April 4, 1968, at the Lorraine Motel
• Motel opened as National Civil Rights Museum in 1991
Photo: R. Gino Santa Maria / Shutterfree, Llc | Dreamstime.com
Geography and Land
• Total area: 302 square miles (land, 295 square miles; water, 7.6 square miles)
• Elevation: 337 feet above sea level
• Sited on the Fourth Chickasaw Bluff
• Water source: Memphis Sand Aquifer
• The aquifer spans more than 7,000 square miles under eight states
• Water age: typically over 2,000 years old
• Its pure drinking water was deemed “the sweetest in the world”
• Aquifer volume: more than 100 trillion gallons, enough to cover all of Shelby County up to the top of Clark Tower
• Number of extreme heat days: 20 (2022)
• Number of extreme precipitation days: 4 (2023)
Demographics
• Total population (2020 census): 633,425
• Population estimate (2023): 618,639
• Population decrease: -2.6 percent
• Second-most populated city in Tennessee (after Nashville)
• Black or African American: 64.4 percent
• White: 26.5 percent
• American Indian or Alaskan Native: .3 percent
• Asian: 1.6 percent
• Hispanic or Latino: 8 percent
• Median age: 33.9
• Over 65: 14.6 percent
• Under 18: 31.8 percent
• Ratio: 88 males for every 100 females
• Employment rate: 59.8 percent (2023)
• Total households: 257,188
• Average household size: 2.6 persons per household (2018-2022)
• Children in single-parent households: 43.5 percent (2018-2022)
• Only English spoken at home: 88.6 percent of households
• Language other than English spoken at home: 11.4 percent
• Foreign-born population Memphis: 8.3 percent
• Median household income Memphis: $51,399 (2023)
• Median family income Memphis: $61,977
• Poverty Memphis (2023): 22.6 percent
• Largest poverty age group Memphis: under 18 (36.3 percent)
Housing and Living
• Total housing units: 286,713
• Occupied housing units: 255,642
• Largest housing occupancy by type: married-family couple (45,875)
• Second-largest housing occupancy by type: female householder, no male present (18,726)
• Vacant housing units (2020): 31,071
• Moved from a different state to Memphis (2023): 2 percent
• Moved within Shelby County (2023): 10.2 percent
• Median gross rent Memphis: $1,175
• Homeownership rate Memphis: 44.9 percent
• Largest home category by price: $200,000 to $299,000 (23.5 percent)
• Second-largest home category by price: $300,000 to $499,999 (17.55 percent)
• Average commute time in Memphis: 20.9 minutes
• Largest means of transportation: drive alone (77.8 percent)
• Second-largest means of transportation: car pool (9.2 percent)
• Commuters on public transportation: .8 percent
• Households without a vehicle: 8.4 percent (2018-2022)
Health (all of Shelby County)
• Quality of life ranking (out of 95 Tennessee counties): 87th (2023)
• Social and economic ranking (education, employment, violent crime, children in poverty, more): 83rd
• Life expectancy: 72.5 years (2019-2021)
• All cancer incidence rate: 438.2 cases per 100,000 population (2017-2021)
• Death rate due to cancer: 162.1 per 100,000 population (2018-2022)
• Child mortality rate (under 20): 92.4 deaths per 100,000 population (2018-2021)
• Teens who are sexually active: 32.2 percent (2021)
• Adults who binge drink: 15.7 percent (2022)
• Drug and opioid-involved overdose death rate: 32.4 per 100,000 population (2018-2020)
• Teens who use alcohol: 17.8 percent (2021)
• Teens who use marijuana: 18.9 percent (2021)
• Adults who have had a routine checkup: 79.8 percent (2022)
• Adults with health insurance: 83.7 percent (2023)
• Adults without health insurance: 10.8 percent (2022)
• Children with health insurance: 92.8 percent (2023)
• Children without health insurance: 7.2 percent (2023)
• People with private health insurance only: 50.6 percent (2023)
• Persons with public health insurance only: 26.7 percent (2023)
• Death rate due to heart disease: 209.2 per 100,000 population (2022)
• High blood pressure prevalence: 41.5 percent (2021)
• High cholesterol prevalence: 33.2 percent (2021)
• Adults ever diagnosed with depression: 25.2 percent (2022)
• Adults with any mental illness: 15.8 percent (2018-2020)
• Death rate due to suicide: 11.6 per 100,000 population (2018-2020)
• High school students who attempted suicide: 16.8 percent (2021)
• Adults (20+) who are sedentary: 22.6 percent (2021)
• High school students who engage in regular physical activity: 26.5 percent (2021)
• Death rate due to firearms: 33.6 per 100,000 population (2018-2020)
• HIV prevalence rate: 900.6 cases per 100,000 population (2022)
• Death rate due to HIV: 4.6 per 100,000 population (2018-2020)
• Adults who smoke: 19.3 percent (2022)
• High school students who smoke cigarettes: 3.0 percent (2021)
• Adults (20+) who are obese: 34.1 percent (2021)
• High school students who are overweight or obese: 42.2 percent (2021)
• Death rate due to homicide: 28.7 per 100,000 population (2018-2020)
• Domestic violence incidents per 1,000 population: 17.6 incidents per 1,000 population (2022)
• Alcohol-impaired driving deaths 18.2 percent of driving deaths (2017-2021)
• Bicyclist deaths: 2 (2023)
• Death rate due to motor vehicle collisions 19.5 per 100,000 population (2015-2021)
• Pedestrian deaths: 476 (2023)
• Substantiated child abuse rate: 3.4 cases per 1,000 children (2023)
• Child food insecurity rate: 27.4 percent (2022)
• Total food insecurity rate: 13.4 percent (2022)
• Households receiving SNAP with children: 51.0 percent (2018-2022)
• Households with cash public assistance income: 1.7 percent (2018-2022)
Education
• Memphis-Shelby County Schools graduation rate: 83.4 percent (2024)
• Memphis population high school graduates (2023 estimate): 31.2 percent
• Bachelor’s degree or higher Memphis: 27.9 percent
• Enrolled in school (K-12) in Memphis: 72.4 percent
• University of Memphis is the largest post-secondary school (21,000 students)
• Also home to Rhodes College, Lemoyne-Owen College, Christian Brothers University, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, and Southwest Tennessee Community College
Business
• Largest industry employers: education, healthcare, and social assistance
• Second-largest industry employers: transportation, warehousing, and utilities
• Largest worker class: private company (68.6 percent)
• Second-largest worker class: local, state, or federal government (14.4 percent)
• Employer establishments: 19,659 (2022)
• Size of labor force: 431,038 (2024)
• Home to three Fortune 500 companies: FedEx Corp., AutoZone Inc., and International Paper Inc.
• Home to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital
Photo: Chengusf | Dreamstime.com
Economic Development Growth Engine(EDGE) stats since 2011
• Total jobs: 52,877
• Total capital investment: $11,691,419,735
• Number of PILOTs approved: 125
• Spending with local and minority companies: $804,417,653
• Average wage (PILOTs only): $83,251.28
• Average PILOT term: 11 years
• Local tax revenues generated: $1,956,924,055
• Total tax not charged to companies: $936,907,722
• Benefit-to-cost ratio: 2.09
• Incentive amount per job per year: $3,256.59
• Number of TIFS approved: 6
• Number of loans approved: 118
• Total loan amount: $15,924,841
• Number of bonds approved: 12
• Total bond amount: $569,737,850
Industry sectors
Food and Beverage industry
• Employed: 53,288 (2022)
• GDP: $4.9 billion
• Locations: 2,517
Manufacturing
• Employed: 43,918 (2023)
• GDP: $11.7 billion
• Locations: 1,132
Agribusiness and AgTech
• Employed: 9,231 (2023)
• GDP: $2.6 billion
• Companies: 623
Automotive and Parts Suppliers
• Employed: 18,735 (2023)
• GDP: $3.7 billion
• Operations: 1,119
Healthcare and Life Science
• Employed: 88,725 (2022)
• GDP: $10.4 billion
• Operations: 4,114
Headquarters and Finance
• Employed: 49,743 (2022)
• GDP: $12.4 billion
• Companies: 5,111
Information and Technology
• Employed: 7,753 (2022)
• GDP: $2.4 billion
• Companies: 1,318
Photo: F11photo | Dreamstime.com
Music and Entertainment
• Employed: 29,295 (2022)
• GDP: $2 billion
• Companies: 828
Supply Chain and Logistics
• Employed: 119,002 (2022)
• GDP: $18.9 billion
• Companies: 3,602
Small Business and Entrepreneur
• Employed: 229,000 (2024)
• Payroll: $11 billion (2021)
• Businesses: 137,000
Port of Memphis
• Second-largest inland port on the Mississippi River
• Total operations: 127 (2018)
• Employed: 22,465
• Taxes generated: $44.5 billion
• Economic impact: $9.2 billion
• Home to the only petroleum refinery in Tennessee
• Hub for all five Class I railways that serve Memphis: BN, CN, CSX, Norfolk Southern, and Union Pacific
Memphis International Airport (MEM)
• Passenger traffic: 4.8 million (2023)
• MEM facilitated 4,981 flights (Nov. 2024)
• 77 percent on time
• 65 airlines
• Top three international destinations: Windsor, Canada; La Romana, Dominican Republic; Kerry, Ireland
• 274 routes
• Busiest routes: Chicago, Houston, Dallas
• Top three airlines: NetJets, Delta Air Lines, Flexjet
• Cargo operations: 8.56 billion pounds (2023)
• Busiest cargo airport in North America (2023)
• Second-busiest cargo airport worldwide (2023)
Photo: Jeff Schultes | Dreamstime.com
FedEx Corp.
• Total revenue for fiscal year 2024: $87.7 billion
• FedEx Express: $74.7 billion (85 percent of total revenue).
• FedEx Freight: $9.4 billion (11 percent of total revenue).
• Other services like FedEx Office and FedEx Logistics: $3.6 billion (4 percent of total revenue)
• Operates world’s largest cargo airline, covering over 650 airports globally
• Moves an average of over 14.5 million shipments daily
• Serves over 220 countries and territories
• Connects 99 percent of the world’s GDP
• Global employees: ~500,000 (2023)
• Memphis employees: ~35,000 (2024)
• Operating facilities: ~5,000 worldwide (2023)
Photo: Sean Pavone | Dreamstime.com
Tourism and Cultural Assets
• Visitors: 13.5 million (2023)
• Annual economic impact: $4.2 billion
• Employment: 44,000 (Shelby County)
• Companies: more than 2,300
• Hotel rooms: 26,000 rooms (Shelby County), 4,000 (Downtown)
• Beale Street visitors: 4 million annually
• Graceland visitors: more than 500,000 annually; second-most visited private residence in the U.S. after the White House
• Graceland’s economic impact: about $150 million annually for Memphis
• The city’s name is mentioned in more than 1,000 song lyrics and titles, more than any other city in the world
• Home to more than 100 barbecue restaurants
• Home to more than 160 parks
• Memphis Zoo is home to about 3,500 animals representing more than 500 species
• Bass Pro Shops at the Pyramid is one of the largest retails spaces in the world; its 28-story elevator is the world’s largest freestanding elevator
• Unique offenders by sex: male (70,000), female (29,000)
• Offenders released: 172,579
• Remained in custody: 2,099
• Top offenders by number of arrests: Brian Holmes (55), Deundra Milligan (45), Michael Jones (40)
• Full-time police officers per 1,000 residents: 3.16, 2022 (national average for cities with more than 250,000 people is 2.4 per 1,000)
City of Memphis budget
• Total revenue: $891.3 million (2025)
• Top revenue categories: local taxes ($600 million), state taxes ($79.2 million), licenses and permits ($27.8 million)
• Total expenses: $891.3 million
• Top expense categories: personnel ($640.8 million), materials and supplies ($176.6 million), grants and subsidies ($73.9 million)
• Expenses by top divisions: police services ($309.7 million), fire services ($246.7 million), grants and subsidies ($65 million)
• Top paid employees (2023): Cerelyn Davis, director of police services ($280,862); Gina Sweat, fire chief ($205,665); Donald Crowe, assistant chief of police services ($177,768); Jayne Chandler, administrative judge ($172,016)
Photo: Pierre Jean Durieu | Dreamstime.com
Sports
NBA team: Memphis Grizzlies
• Originally Vancouver Grizzlies (1995-2001)
• Relocated to Memphis: 2001
• First three seasons played at the Pyramid
• Home games: FedExForum since 2004
NCAA basketball: University of Memphis Tigers
• Home games: FedExForum
Minor League Baseball: Memphis Redbirds
• Major League Baseball affiliate: St. Louis Cardinals
• Home games: AutoZone Park since 2000
NCAA football: University of Memphis Tigers
• Home games: Simmons Bank Liberty Bowl
• Biggest crowd: 65,885, versus University of Tennessee in 1996
Sources: United States Census Bureau, Memphis-Shelby County Schools, Memphis-Shelby County Economic Development Growth Engine, Greater Memphis Chamber, Shelby County Health Department, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Port of Memphis, Memphis International Airport, FedEx Corp., Memphis Tourism, Graceland, Downtown Memphis Commission, Memphis Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum, Memphis Zoo, Bass Pro Shops at the Pyramid, Memphis Police Department, City of Memphis, OpenPayroll, Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, Wikipedia (fact-checked), University of Memphis, Memphis Grizzlies, Memphis Redbirds, Bureau of Labor Statistics, The Commercial Appeal, National Endowment for the Humanities, Encyclopedia Britannica, Sun Studio, National Civil Rights Museum
Elon Musk is coming to Memphis and bringing the AI revolution with him.
Musk, who is CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, and runs several other companies, is opening a major facility in Memphis that will be the heart of his X.AI Corp (xAI). The Greater Memphis Chamber, which hosted the announcement Wednesday, said it represents the largest single private sector investment in Memphis’ history.
The company was founded in March 2023 and is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area. While there are several companies exploring the world of artificial intelligence, Musk is bringing his own vision to what it can and should be, which in the broadest sense is “to understand the true nature of the universe.”
As the billionaire entrepreneur told the Greater Memphis Chamber, “My vision is to build the world’s largest and most powerful supercomputer, and I’m willing to put it in Memphis.”
Ted Townsend, president and CEO of the Chamber, said the organization was contacted about three months ago of the company’s interest in locating in Memphis. Prior to that, Phoenix Investment Group of Milwaukee acquired a 200-acre property, plus a 600-acre parcel.
It was Phoenix that provided the connection to xAI, which was interested in the property. Top executives in Musk’s organization wanted to meet right away with the Chamber as well as Doug McGowen, president and CEO of Memphis Light, Gas and Water. It went well.
The deal was not a deal yet, but the interest was clear. There were more meetings in rapid succession with the idea of firming it up and announcing by June.
Locating the xAI operation here also means associated enterprises will be along for the ride. The facility will need computer chips and servers and skilled, high-tech labor.
“Memphis is positioned to extract the benefit of their presence here, and the enormity of capital investment being deployed here, and the direct and indirect and induced impact from an economic development perspective is truly transforming,” Townsend said.
The Securities Exchange Commission reported in December that xAI had raised $134.7 million in outside funding. Last month, the company announced a funding round of $6 billion from key investors.
xAI has already developed Grok, a series of models that have been frequently updated since the initial release last August. Grok-1.5 is available to premium users of X (formerly Twitter).
Musk has long been a fan of science fiction, particularly the works of Douglas Adams, who famously wrote the series The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. One of the six volumes in the series is “Life, the Universe and Everything,” which is referenced on xAI’s home page with the slogan “Discover the answers to life, the universe, everything.”
Photo credit: Greater Memphis Chamber, WeCare tlc, and YMCA
The YMCAs of Memphis and the Mid-South will house primary healthcare centers in the upcoming year. Chamber Benefits Inc., a subsidiary of the Greater Memphis Chamber, the YMCA, and WeCare tlc said that they plan to open the centers starting in 2024, targeting markets in Whitehaven, Downtown Memphis, and Cordova, and plan to open “the first two centers after enrolling a total of 6,000 lives in the program, including dependents.”
“The goal of the program is to expand access to healthcare for businesses and individuals, especially in areas of Memphis where affordable primary care options are needed the most,” said the organizations in a joint statement.
“Now in the rear-view mirror of the pandemic, we understand that access to quality equitable healthcare is even more punctuated,” said Ted Townsend, president and CEO of the Greater Memphis Chamber. “The need for an offering like this throughout our community is absolutely critical and vital.”
Townsend said that not only are they focused on a healthy economy, but a healthy community as a whole. Through partnerships with the YMCA and WeCare, Townsend said that they are continually looking for ways to create advantages for businesses, specifically small-owned.
Through the ChamberCare Health Centers,businesses of all sizes can enroll their employees in the program for $40 per month per employee, said partners. Individuals may also enroll for $40 per month, and dependents are included at no extra charge.
The centers will be operated by WeCare tlc, a second-generation, family-owned and Tennessee-certified Woman Business Enterprise company.” Townsend explained that they pride themselves on working with all kinds of businesses, especially those minority or women-owned. Raegan Le Douaron, CEO and owner of WeCare tlc, said that the company itself was born out of the need for small business owners to control their healthcare costs.
“This program is something that employers pay for, but the employees do not,” said Le Douaron. “Full primary care is offered to the employees and their dependents on their health plan at no cost to the employees.”
Le Douaron also honed in on the regional impact of their partnership. “We’ve always known that if you can have one employer on their health plan, [then] that’s terrific. The real value is when you compound that over an entire region,” she said.
According to partners, the centers will be approximately 2,500-square-feet, and will have full-time staff, primary care physicians, and health coaches. Townsend said that they want these health centers located “all across Memphis and the Mid-South,” which is why he said their partnership with the YMCA is so critical.
“They have the existing infrastructure with their YMCA centers across the community,” said Townsend. He explained that this increases access to a “neighborhood amenity,” and is a major step in accessibility to healthcare, by expanding primary care access in “low-income neighborhoods.”
Jerry Martin, president and CEO of the YMCA of Memphis & the Mid-South said that not only does this community partnership provide more access to healthcare, but it also has the “potential to create lasting change in our communities health and wellness.”
“This potential partnership perfectly aligns with our mission and will serve a crucial need in our communities and enables the Y to broaden our services to continue to help families and individuals to thrive in their health & wellness journeys,” said Martin.
The Memphis economy grew by roughly 8 percent from 2020 to 2021, bouncing back from a Covid deficit, and a new jobs report set a regional record.
The Federal Reserve’s new regional gross domestic product (GDP) data show snapshots of the Memphis-area economy in three scenarios: a “normal” economy in 2019, the Covid contraction of 2020, and last year’s bounce back. Memphis’ economy grew a bit more than 1 percent in 2019, in what the Fed deemed “normal.” It fell more than three points to -2.5 percent in 2020. It then rose to 5.9 percent in 2021. These figures include areas of northern Mississippi and western Arkansas.
The Fed said nearly 95 percent of metros experienced economic growth last year. The median growth was 5.1 percent.
The Nashville MSA (including Murfreesboro and Franklin) led the state in growth at a rate of more than 12 percent. Knoxville came next at more than 8 percent and Chattanooga was third with a growth rate of about 7 percent. However, the Fed warned against comparisons.
”Regardless of the year, it’s clear that there are large differences in economic conditions among MSAs,” the Federal Reserve said in a post on its website. “These differences can stem from variation in industry composition, among other factors. And this variation across the country is important to keep in mind when looking at national averages of economic data.”
Growth in the Memphis economy is showing in its employment numbers. The Greater Memphis Chamber said the area added 2,700 jobs in November, setting a regional record of 671,5000 jobs here. This puts the Chamber on pace to hit its goal of adding 50,000 in Memphis by the end of 2030.
Greater Memphis Chamber
“Greater Memphis has more people on payroll than ever before and our businesses are still telling us they can’t hire people fast enough,” said Chamber president and CEO Ted Townsend. “These historic job numbers tell me we’ve come a long way but have more work to do, especially when it comes to making job training better, faster, and more accessible to every single person in Memphis.”
Greater Memphis Chamber
The hospitality and leisure industry led the region’s job growth in November, ending the month with a total of 66,855 jobs, a 7.9 percent increase compared to November 2021. The financial activities industry followed with a bump of 7.8 percent bump in jobs and the business services industry came in third with an increase of 6.47 percent. The Chamber said the long-stagnant education and health industry saw a 4 percent increase in jobs year over year.
Meanwhile, after a year of steady growth, the construction industry saw an expected contraction as temperatures cooled in November, resulting in about 1 percent fewer jobs in the industry than in October.
The MSA ended November with 13,600 more jobs (about 2 percent) than it had pre-pandemic in February 2020.
“Greater Memphis is feeling many of the same economic pressures other cities are facing, but our resilient job growth shows the strength of our local economy,” said Tecora Murray, executive director of the Chamber’s data and analytics arm, the Center for Economic Competitiveness. “It’s encouraging that two of our essential sectors — hospitality and leisure, and education and health — are again adding jobs in the Memphis MSA, and we expect that trend to continue into 2023.”
The Chamber announced its goal of adding 50,000 jobs in June as part of its Prosper Memphis 2030 strategic growth plan. Half of those jobs should go to minorities, according to the plan. Memphis should also have diverse industries and the plan wants to add 700 new firms in advanced industries. The plan also wants to see 20,000 STEM graduates every year with 45 percent of those degrees going to Black students.
Cleaning up and organizing top
this year’s list. (Photo: Courtesy Greater Memphis Chamber)
Each year the Greater Memphis Chamber sets out the Metro Advocacy Agenda, a list of positions and priorities from local business leaders and stakeholders.
This year’s agenda seeks to clean up the disorganized Shelby County Clerk’s Office (for more than just delays in license plates); expand the hiring of ex-offenders; improve relationships with Memphis Light, Gas & Water (MLGW); clean up the city; organize leadership on transportation planning; and more. Here are some details from this year’s Metro Advocacy Agenda.
Shelby County Clerk’s Office
Ongoing news reports during the spring and summer of 2022 have focused on delays and historic backlogs in the Shelby County Court Clerk’s Office with respect to the issuance of vehicle tags and licenses. These reports have highlighted the months-long delays in mailing out tags and licenses to clients who have already paid for the service. Car dealers have been especially impacted, given how temporary car tags issued with newly-purchased vehicles are not being replaced by new car tags sent to them from the county clerk’s office.
Additionally, clients waiting for hours to be served at the Downtown and satellite offices for the county clerk, many times in scorching summer heat, has been especially concerning when considering how strategies to assign appointment times, extend business hours, and leverage simple technology were not instituted to avoid months of excessive wait times.
With the high-profile attention on the challenges receiving car tags, interviews conducted in preparing the Metro Advocacy Agenda also revealed other problems in the processes and function of the Shelby County Clerk’s office. These items include:
• Substantial delays in the issuance of business licenses
• No updates in system with respect to business transfers
• Inactivity of the Shelby County Alcohol Commission resulting in businesses not being able to obtain alcohol licenses or to clear alcohol-related violations
• Backlog of refunds for overpayment
In an extraordinary move following the August 2022 Shelby County general election, in which the incumbent county clerk was reelected, the Shelby County Commission voted to officially request the intervention of the state of Tennessee into the operations of the Shelby County Clerk’s Office. This action punctuated previous requests for state intervention from the Greater Memphis Automobile Dealers Association and other concerned officials from West Tennessee.
On-ramps for ex-offenders
Ex-offenders (individuals who have been previously convicted of a crime) have traditionally been difficult to place in employment due to policies, liabilities, and [human resources] practices governing many businesses.
What has become apparent in recent years is that the perception of ex-offenders as a un-hirable undercuts a valuable opportunity to employ certain members of this population. As industries and businesses of every size have struggled mightily with securing dependable, qualified employees during the Covid-19 pandemic, the training and hiring of select groups of ex-offenders has resurfaced as a viable workforce strategy for certain organizations.
To this end, interested businesses could benefit from programs that help to train and prepare ex-offenders who meet certain criteria for job opportunities. Such programs, with eligibility requirements and training shaped by employers, are fitting on-ramps for businesses seeking to shore up their workforce.
MLGW
A recurring theme for a number of businesses and industry sectors has been the communication, inconsistency, and delays they have faced in having operational issues and challenges addressed and tracked by MLGW.
In response to concerns from investors, MLGW president J.T. Young suggested the formation of the MLGW Business Advisory Council to bring business and industry leaders together with key members of MLGW’s staff to discuss systemic issues and potential remedies.
After a number of delays due to weather events and efforts to ensure overall diversity of the council, an inaugural meeting for the MLGW Business Advisory Council will convene in September 2022.
Cleanup
In addition to an overall communitywide commitment to regaining our status as the Cleanest City in America, code enforcement, cleanup, landscaping, and overall beautification projects should be prioritized along major thoroughfares and around significant landmarks and tourist destinations in support of economic development.
Visit the Chamber’s website for the full list and more details.
Tourism jobs have returned to pre-pandemic levels in Memphis, tourism spending is nearly back to pre-pandemic levels across the state, and Shelby County ranked behind Davidson County as the most-visited Tennessee county last year.
Memphis Tourism and the Greater Memphis Chamber announced Monday that the leisure and hospitality industries here made a “full recovery” from job losses associated with the Covid-19 pandemic after nearly two-and-a-half years.
The July jobs report from the Chamber’s Center for Economic Competitiveness said tourism jobs rose slightly from June and were up 1.4 percent from from February 2020. Job growth in the sector led it to a record-high 667,200 jobs here last month.
Greater Memphis Chamber
“Positive job growth in our industry is welcome news as Memphis and Shelby County also meets and exceeds hotel room night demand seen in 2019,” said Memphis Tourism president and CEO Kevin Kane. “The biggest challenge now facing our industry on a local level is filling available openings. The Memphis destination has recovered at a rapid pace and our industry is laser-focused on showcasing how a job in tourism and hospitality can also develop into a successful career path.”
Ted Townsend, chief economic development officer with the Chamber, said the pandemic “decimated” tourism and hospitality around the world but said it has made a “full recovery here.”
“This comeback comes as our region continues to set new records for jobs,” he said. “What that tells me is that Memphis has regained its pre-pandemic momentum and is entering a new phase of growth.”
Tourism across the state has bounced back, too, according to state data released this week, but not back to pre-pandemic levels. Tennessee tourism generated $24.2 billion in domestic and international travel spending in 2021, according to data from U.S. Travel Association and Tourism Economics. The figure is just slightly off the record-setting $24.5 billion spent here in 2019. That number fell by 32 percent in 2020 to a record-low of $16.8 billion.
The new figure marks the largest visitor spending nationally in Tennessee history, officials said. Travelers in the state spent an estimated $66 million per day here last years. Tourism activity here in 2021 generated $1.9 billion in state and local tax revenues and made the sector the third-highest employer in the state.
“Tennessee is crushing it with the largest visitor spending national market share for Tennesseans in our history,” said Mark Ezell, Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development. “Tennessee is one of the top travel destinations in the world because of our tremendous assets including our unmatched scenic beauty, diverse cities, and small towns, as well as our world-class attractions, music, cultural, and historical sites.”
Shelby County tourism bounced back last year, too, according to the report, but not to pre-pandemic levels. Visitors here spent $3.4 billion in 2021, compared to the record $3.7 billion spent in 2019. However, spending here was up 35 percent over 2020 with a spend of $2.5 billion.
The top three spending categories in Shelby County tourism last year were food and beverage ($1.1 billion), transportation ($826.2 million), and lodging ($544.2 million). Retail ($466.8 million) and recreation ($458.6 million) rounded out the top five.
State of Tennessee
Tourism here employed nearly 24,000 people for a total labor income of more than $1 billion. Tourism activity here yielded $276.1 million in state and local taxes. State officials said, thanks to tourism taxes generated here, each Shelby County household pays $744 less in state and local taxes.
Davidson County (Nashville) continued to dominate tourism here, ranking first in the state’s annual report. Spending there is not back to pre-pandemic levels either but bounced back to a healthy $7.3 billion last year. The figure is nearly $4 billion more than money spent in Shelby County in the same time period.
A new, only-in-Memphis certification will be given to staffing agencies for fairness and equity, the first concrete result from the Greater Memphis Chamber’s program called From Protest to Progress.
That program brought together about 50 Memphis activists, clergy members, and business leaders 10 days after the city’s first protest of the public killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020. The overarching goal for the From Protest to Progress plan is for a more positive Black economic impact in Memphis.
The new Gold Standard Certification is a direct response from the group concerned with staffing agencies, the Chamber said, and “addresses concerns about equitable hiring practices and fair treatment of people finding work through staffing agencies.”
Chamber president and CEO Beverly Robertson said, “The Gold Standard Certification was created to address the real need of people in our community to know which staffing agencies will treat them fairly, equitably, and with the dignity they deserve.”
Five companies will get the designation each year. This year the certification was given to CTD Staffing, LLC; Prestigious Placements, Inc.; Prologistix; Staffline, LLC; and Summerfield Associates, Inc.
To be eligible for certification, staffing agencies must operate in Memphis or Shelby County for three or more years, demonstrate a commitment to ethical and professional standards, submit letters of support from an employee client and business client, and support the success of all of their employee clients.
The number of jobs in Memphis may have dropped slightly in May, but the figure still remains at one of its highest levels in decades.
According to a May 2022 jobs brief by the Greater Memphis Chamber’s Center for Economic Competitiveness, the Greater Memphis region saw a 0.2 percent (1,800 jobs) drop in the number of employed people after record highs in March and April, due to uncertainty over inflation and the national economy. But the total number of jobs in Greater Memphis currently stands at 659,600, which is 0.25 percent higher than pre-pandemic levels.
And the current market is still higher than the previous record set in February 2020, with an estimated 657,900 jobs.
“Greater Memphis continues to show strong signs of recovery from the worst pandemic in modern history,” said Ted Townsend, chief economic development officer, and president- and CEO-elect, for the Greater Memphis Chamber. “At the same time, we know there are areas where we, as a region, can improve. As we work to make Memphis the No. 1 economic development destination in the nation, the Chamber is already developing the inclusive talent pipelines that new and existing businesses need to accelerate our momentum.”
The report also detailed job growth by industry. Construction continues to surge, as it leads regional recovery at 10.67 percent growth over March 2020, followed by Trade/Transportation/Utilities (7.3 percent) and Business Services (6.5 percent). Per the report, small drops for Information, Financial Activities, and Other Services are likely byproducts of inflation. However, the Education and Health industries continue to see their recovery lag behind other sectors, with employment standing at -6.6 percent below pre-pandemic numbers.
One of Memphis’ biggest drivers of change is about head off to a new challenge. On Thursday, Greater Memphis Chamber CEO Beverly Robertson announced that she would be stepping down from her role in December 2022. That same day, the Chamber board of directors voted to name the organization’s chief economic development officer, Ted Townsend, as her successor.
Robertson, the Chamber’s first Black president and CEO, took over the reins in 2018 in unfortunate circumstances following the death of former president and CEO Phil Trenary. She then had to navigate the Covid-19 pandemic. But despite this two crises, in 2021, she led the Chamber to its best year ever for economic development and its best financial year.
“My tenure at the Chamber has occurred in the midst of protest, politics and the pandemic,” said Robertson in a statement. “I stepped into the organization at a critical time. This work was more of a mission than a job. But my administration has been marked by inclusion – on our staff, in our community, and in the diverse voices we’re listening to – and by an entrepreneurial spirit that has led me to launch initiatives that others may have never considered. I am so grateful for the relationships that I have built over the years, along with new ones that I have fostered. The work would not have been possible without their support.”
“We are very fortunate to have a deep bench when it comes to leadership at the Chamber,” Robertson continued. “Ted is a strong, skilled professional who deeply cares about Memphis and this team. He is an expert when it comes to economic development and he knows this community. I’m looking forward to his future leadership of the Chamber.”
Under her tenure, the organization followed the mantra of “prosperity for all,” and focused much of its efforts on leading inclusive and economic workforce development. For the remaining few months in her role, Robertson will aim to raise $10 to $15 million that will mostly go towards economic development work. Afterwards, she plans to return to TRUST Marketing, the business she founded with her husband Howard Robertson.
Ted Townsend (Credit: Greater Memphis Chamber)
The Chamber recently revealed its Prosper Memphis 2030 plan, which seeks to add 50,000 regional jobs, and have Memphis leverage its status as one of the largest minority-majority cities in the country to attract businesses that place an emphasis on diversity in their workforces. Townsend was a key player in drafting that plan, and was also a huge part of securing Ford and SK Innovation’s $5.6 billion BlueOval City project near Memphis.
“Greater Memphis, the Chamber, and I all owe Beverly a debt of gratitude for the work she’s done to put inclusion and diversity at the heart of the Chamber’s work,” Townsend said. “In a majority-minority city, the only sustainable growth is inclusive growth, which is why we included bold minority inclusion goals in our recently announced Prosper Memphis 2030 plan to add 50,000 new, quality jobs.
“Memphis has momentum and it’s about to get even better,” he continued. “We have fully recovered the jobs we lost in the pandemic, we just had our best year ever for economic development, and we have more projects in our pipeline than ever before. A tsunami of opportunity is coming, and when it does, the Chamber will be leading the charge to make sure this prosperity is felt across Memphis.”
“Beverly Robertson is an incredibly tough act to follow, but if there’s anyone who can carry forward her work to make Memphis more prosperous for all, it’s Ted Townsend.” added Doug Browne, chairman of the Chamber’s board and president of Peabody Hotels & Resorts. “Ted has both the passion and the economic development experience to make Memphis one of the fastest-growing and prosperous cities in the nation. The board is 100-percent behind his vision to make our region an economic powerhouse.”
“After Phil’s death, the Chamber needed a leader with both a strong vision for this community and a deep compassion for an organization that had just suffered a tremendous loss,” said Richard W. Smith, president and CEO-elect of FedEx Express and past chairman of the Chamber’s Board of Directors. “We needed a champion to carry on the growth-focused ‘prosperity for all’ mission that Phil had started, and to build and improve upon it. Beverly was that champion. A trailblazer who became the right leader at the right time, she leaves our Chamber better than she found it. And I know Ted is determined to build on that solid foundation and not stop until Memphis is the city of choice for business. We are very fortunate to have our Chamber under the watchful eye of these two leaders.”
