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For Immediate Release December 3, 1997
Contact: Cristi Allen
callen@decisionanalyst.com
Phone: 817-640-6166

Dallas, Texas – San Jose, California, is the "Most Productive City in America," according to a recent study by Sprint Business, a communications industry leader in helping businesses increase their productivity.

The study, conducted for Sprint Business by Decision Analyst, Inc., a Texas-based independent research firm, evaluated the productivity of the 50 cities in the country with the highest populations. To determine each city's economic productivity, a set of five criteria was established, measured and quantified, and when added together, formed an economic productivity composite index.

The conclusion: For productivity, the West Coast is the place to be. Contradicting all stereotypes of the "laid-back" West, the top three most productive cities in America are all on the Pacific coast. For nearly all the cities in the study, the higher the education or training level, the higher the level of productivity in the city. According to the study, the top five most productive cities in America are:

In conjunction with the study results, Sprint donated a full day of free long-distance service to the San Jose Chamber of Commerce. Small businesses in San Jose also are eligible for free long-distance calling to make them more productive on Fridays through Sprint's national Fridays Free calling program.

"This study — one of the most complete of its kind -- has identified cities across the country that can serve as models of productivity for businesses everywhere," said Sue Sentell, vice president of business marketing for Sprint Business. "Companies across the country can use examples from businesses in the high-performing cities to improve productivity. These business examples, coupled with productivity-enhancing calling programs such as Fridays Free, provide business owners with the tools needed to help them do more business."

The study used 1996 calendar-year data for all categories except educational attainment, which uses 1990 Census data, and the number of business establishments, which comes from the 1994 County Business Pattern as published by the Bureau of the Census. The criteria for determining the city's productivity index included:

• employment rates
• growth rates in population and employment
• average real per capita income adjusted for the cost of living in metropolitan areas
• educational attainment and work force training
• weighted average real earnings and productivity per worker by business sector (used as a proxy for output measurement)

These criteria were chosen by the research organization to give an accurate picture of each city’s current economic landscape, allowing for an objective evaluation of the business conditions and overall economic performance of each city. According to Sue Chang, vice president and director of econometrics for Decision Analyst, this type of evaluation provides a broader definition of productivity than the traditional measurement of output per worker that the U.S. government uses.

Leading Indicators of Productivity

Of the five criteria established for the study, the leading indicator of whether one city would be ranked higher than another in terms of productivity was the educational attainment and work force training level of the city. In fact, the five most productive cities in the study all ranked within the top 25th percentile in terms of education and training level of the cities' workers.

"There is a definite message to business owners based on the results of our survey," said Sentell. "The better educated and better trained your workforce is, the more productive your business is likely to be."

Another link between the most productive cities was the large presence of businesses involved in the information services industry -- companies involved in developing, manufacturing and servicing computer-related technology. The higher the number of companies in the information services industry, the higher rated the cities were in Sprint's "Most Productive City in America" study. This similarity is interesting to note, Sentell said, given the enormous growth in recent years of the information services sector, as well as the increased productivity afforded by the use of technology.

"There is a great deal that can be learned about how businesses operate in America's most productive cities," said Sentell. "As we consult with our own customers to increase their business performance, we can utilize these businesses as role models for doing more and better business."

Sprint Business

Sprint Business is a leader in helping companies improve their business performance by providing the innovative products and services necessary to succeed in today's competitive markets. Sprint provides strategic solutions for small businesses, helping them become more productive with a unique blend of flexible communications services, simple flat-rate pricing and responsive customer service. Among the value-added services that are available to Sprint's small business customers are long distance service, toll-free service, wireless long distance service and Fridays Free, an innovative program that helps small businesses become more productive with free domestic long distance service each Friday.

Sprint is a global communications company — at the forefront in integrating long distance, local and wireless communications services -- and the world's largest carrier of Internet traffic. Sprint built and operates the United States' only nationwide all-digital, fiber-optic network and is the leader in advanced data communications services. Sprint has $14 billion in annual revenues and serves more than 16 million business and residential customers.

Editor’s Note: The study to identify "The Most Productive City in America," used the most recent data available from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Woods & Poole Economics, the Bureau of the Census, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the National Center for Education Statistics, Department of Education. Statistics regarding educational attainment were compiled from 1990 Census data.

According to a study recently commissioned by Sprint Business, the following are how the 50 most populated cities in America rank in terms of productivity. The research was conducted by Decision Analyst, Inc., an Arlington, Texas-based independent research firm.

For additional information contact:
Cristi Allen
Publicity
Email: callen@decisionanalyst.com
Phone: 1.800.ANALYSIS (262.5974)
Address: 604 Avenue H East
Arlington, TX 76011

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