Research Campus alone isn’t cure for Kannapolis woes

Updated Dec. 28, 2009 at 7:28 a.m.

Research Campus alone isn’t cure for Kannapolis woes

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By Emily Ford, Salisbury Post

KANNAPOLIS, N.C. — With unemployment reaching post-Pillowtex levels and a poorly educated workforce, Kannapolis faces several economic development challenges in the coming year.

City leaders discussed the challenges and possible solutions at a recent long-range planning retreat.

During the recession, the city's unemployment rate has reached 11.8 percent, about the same as it was in 2003 after Pillowtex closed and thousands lost their jobs, city staff told Kannapolis City Council members during the retreat.

Many people in Kannapolis struggle because they don't have adequate education. Fourteen percent of citizens have a college degree. About a third of citizens have only a high school diploma, and nearly a quarter of the population doesn't have even that.

The recession has slowed development at the N.C. Research Campus{{/a}], a $1.5 billion life sciences complex, as well as at mixed-use developments like Kellswater and Concrescere, City Manager Mike Legg said.

For more details, read the {{a href="external_link-6695948"}}Salisbury Post report.