Governor Roy Cooper announced 28,690 new jobs in North Carolina in 2022, representing 182 business recruitment, expansion or rural development projects that engaged with the North Carolina Department of Commerce or its team at the Economic Development Partnership of N.C. in 2022. These projects will bring $19.3 billion of capital investment into the state, marking new all-time highs for economic development performance.
The 2022 performance tops last year’s announcements of 24,224 jobs and $10.1 billion of capital investment, which themselves were record-breaking statistics at the time. In July, CNBC named North Carolina as America’s Top State for Business in 2022. Last week, the economic development trade magazine Business Facilities named North Carolina its State of the Year for 2022.
“North Carolina continues to be the best place for people to live, learn, work and raise a family, and these economic development results show companies recognize our appeal as a business location,” said Governor Roy Cooper. "We're building a stronger economy that works for everyone and I am excited about North Carolina’s future."
Top projects for 2022, as ranked by job creation totals, include:
- Vinfast’s selection of Chatham County for its North American manufacturing and assembly factory for electric vehicles, which will create 7,500 jobs;
- Macy’s decision to build its first automated fulfillment center in China Grove (Rowan County), creating 2,800 jobs;
- Wolfspeed’s choice of Chatham County for a major manufacturing campus for silicon carbide materials for computer chips, creating 1,801 jobs;
- Boom Supersonic’s selection of Greensboro as the site of its Superfactory to build the next generation of commercial supersonic airliners, creating 1,761 jobs at the Piedmont Triad Airport.
“North Carolina has enjoyed two years now of record-setting performance,” said Commerce Secretary Machelle Baker Sanders. “This economic development success comes in no small part from the hard work of many local, regional and state leaders, Chris Chung and his team at the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina, and economic developers across the state. This success also reaffirms my vision and principles in the state’s First in Talent Plan – that our businesses, communities, and workforce are more competitive, resilient and successful within a more diverse, equitable and inclusive environment and business culture.”
A majority of the year’s economic development projects located or expanded in the state’s more rural or economically distressed areas, with 66 percent of projects choosing either a Tier 1 or Tier 2 county, as delineated by North Carolina’s economic development tier system.
Significant projects in the state’s Tier 1 or Tier 2 counties include:
- SO-PAK-CO’s decision to locate a state-of-the-art processing and packaging plant in Scotland County, creating 440 jobs in the City of Laurinburg;
- ABEC’s selection of Wilson County for a new biomanufacturing facility, creating 251 new jobs in the City of Wilson;
- Service Offsite Solutions’ choice of Lee County for a new manufacturing facility, creating 235 jobs in Sanford;
- Technimark’s selection of Randolph County for a project creating 220 jobs to serve its customers in the healthcare and medical device sector;
- American Woodmark Corporation’s expansion of its operations in Hamlet, creating 131 jobs in Richmond County;
- COSMOIND’s selection of Nash County for its first North American manufacturing campus, creating 168 jobs in Middlesex.
Additional jobs were created in conjunction with rural development grants managed by Commerce’s Rural Economic Development Division. A total of 3,872 new jobs were supported by $22.6 million in rural grant monies awarded by the state’s Rural Infrastructure Authority during its meetings in February, April, June, August, October, and December. These public grants in turn attracted well over $1 billion in private-sector investment capital in support of job creation and improved infrastructure capacity for rural North Carolina.
Overall, Commerce’s Rural Economic Development Division has awarded grants to rural communities across North Carolina totaling $104.6 million in 2022 to support infrastructure development, transformative economic development projects, and community (workforce) housing projects.
The North Carolina Department of Commerce serves as the state’s lead agency for community, workforce, and economic development. A searchable directory of all of the programs and services offered by the department is available at commerce.nc.gov/directory.