Over the past decade, jobs-centered development has emerged as a promising alternative to the South’s traditional strategies of economic and workforce development. Following the Second World War, southern leaders waged an aggressive campaign to transform the regional economy. To this end, officials mixed public policies with private market forces to create jobs and cultivate a more skilled workforce. In doing so, they created a distinctive model of economic growth: a model based on luring industries south by offering a low-cost business climate, subsidizing key expenses, and providing customized workforce training.