CHARLOTTE – I was talking with Laura Ullrich, a Richmond Fed senior regional economist, [recently] about manufacturing jobs in North Carolina. After growing pretty steadily over the past dozen years, they hit a plateau.
The state lost 2,100 manufacturing jobs in October, seasonally adjusted, according to the [most recent] government employment report. The loss of those jobs was one reason that, overall, North Carolina lost 7,700 jobs in October.
During our conversation, Ullrich emailed me an encouraging chart showing the surge in new private manufacturing construction in the country. There were two lines, both headed up. One showed manufacturing construction investment, rising over the last couple of years from around $80 billion to $200 billion. The other one showed the computer electronic and electrical sub sector of manufacturing construction, which alone had gone from less than $20 billion to around $100 billion.
“This is one chart that I’ve been showing in my presentations,” said Ullrich, “about what’s going on with manufacturing construction right now.” Computer electronic and electrical manufacturing construction is “through the roof.”
“This includes everything EV related, and everything related to data centers,” she said. “A lot of that is going on in your neck of the woods. With these big economic development announcements we had in both North and South Carolina, much of it being in the EV space. VinFast, Toyota, all these companies.”
For much more on this topic, read the full story at Business North Carolina.
(C) Business North Carolina
