Charlotte Continues to Lead NC in Job Growth

[monsoon]

The US Conference of Mayors has released its Metro Economies report on job creation gain/loss. Charlotte by a wide margin continues to lead in job creation NC in both numbers and percentage. Here are the comparisons to the rest of NC.

Change in Metro Employment 2001 - 2004

Metro, Jobs in 2001, Jobs in 2004, Change, Percentage

1. Charlotte, 836.3, 851.4, 15,110, 1.81%

2. Fayetteville, 114.2, 116.2, 1970, 1.72%

3. Wilmington, 118.1, 119.7, 1,640, 1.39%

4. Asheville, 112.2, 113.6, 1,370, 1.22%

5. Raleigh-Durham, 691.0, 697.6, 6,570, 0.95%

6. Jacksonville, 43.5, 42.1, -340,-0.80%

7. Greenville, 69.8, 68.8, -1,020,-1.46%

8. Greensboro, 667.9, 633.9, -33,970,-5.09%

9. Rocky Mount, 70.5, 66.3, -4,210,-5.97%

10. Hickory, 191.4, 168.5, -22,880,-11.96%

Greensboro's loss of 34,000 jobs and Hickory's 23,000 jobs is staggering and I wonder if that is partially responsible for the growth in Charlotte?

This is how Charlotte compared to SC. Note that Myrtle Beach added almost as many jobs as Charlotte even though its job market is 8X smaller.

1. Myrtle Beach, 102.4, 116.5, 14,090, 13.75%

2. Florence, 66.1, 70.1, 4,000, 6.06%

3. Charleston, 255.9, 266.4, 10,510, 4.11%

4. Sumter, 42.3, 42.6, 230, 0.63%

5. Columbia, 311.7, 304.7, -6,950,-2.23%

6. Greenville, 488.8, 470.0, -29,840,-5.97%

Nationally Charlotte ranks 25 of 318 in the nation for job creation during this period. (all metros ranked)

[krazeeboi]

And just in case anyone is wondering, these stats are for MSAs according to the 2000 US Census designations, meaning Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and High Point are included as one metropolitan area.

[dubone]

That kind of underscores why NC is throwing money at bringing jobs to the Triad.

It will be interesting to see how the growth numbers change for 2005 and 2006. BofA missed estimates for the first time in years, and Wachovia has begun weaving offshored jobs into their employment strategies. The banking industry kind of saved this area during the time frame above, as banks were doing pretty well through that period.

Places with textiles, tobacco, and other manufacturing jobs were most affected during the 2001-2004 time frame.

[monsoon]

I think that most of the growth is coming from smaller companies that are locating here due to the good environment (economic, business, living, etc) in the Charlotte area. Just this morning there is a pretty good article in the paper about an automobile company that moved from Van Nuys California that develops alternative energy cars. We keep hearing of announcements of companies moving here every couple of weeks.

I am also aware of a automobile parts manufacturing plant in the area that just doubled the size of its plant, ironically due in part to GM and Ford outsoucing more it its work to independants.

It's my opinion this diversification is good as we don't want the area to rely on 1 or 2 industries.

[MZT]

I'm skeptical that Greensboro is doing that poorly. There is still growth and sprawl galore, and the paper has several pages of jobs in the classifieds.

[dubone]

I agree that diversification is good. I think you are right that small businesses provided the foundation for the large job increases in the last few years. Our numbers were helped, though, by continued hiring by the banks even when much of the rest of the US economy was in doldrums.