On Wednesday, Republican Georgia Governor Brian Kemp announced that KISS USA, a global beauty company, is opening a facility in Bryan County that will create more than 395 new jobs and invest $121 million in the community.
“Georgia’s efficient and reliable ports, infrastructure, and workforce continue to draw global companies like KISS to this No. 1 state for business,” said Kemp. “We’re happy to welcome them to the Peach State and we’re grateful for the hardworking ports operators who will ensure their goods, along with so many others, continue to reach consumers around the world.”
As explained by a press release from Kemp’s office, “KISS was founded in 1989 in New York and has grown into one of the largest cosmetic companies in the country. It offers a wide variety of beauty supplies to more than 100 countries, including nail, hair, and cosmetic products designed for at-home use… KISS’s new facility will be located at The Cubes at Interstate Centre II, a Georgia Ready for Accelerated Development (GRAD) Certified site.”
The news is representative of the success that the economies of Republican-led states have had in recovering from the pandemic.
According to an analysis from The Wall Street Journal over the summer, Republican-led states – or “red states” – are “winning” the economic recovery by multiple measures. In comparison, many Democrat-led states – or “blue states” – are still in a worse economic position than before the pandemic.
“Since February 2020, the month before the pandemic began, the share of all U.S. jobs located in red states has grown by more than half a percentage point, according to an analysis of Labor Department data by the Brookings Institution think tank. Red states have added 341,000 jobs over that time, while blue states were still short 1.3 million jobs as of May,” The Wall Street Journal reported at the time.
