Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the Carolina Journal. The author of this post is Theresa Opeka.
New business creations, possible new jobs, and job deals falling through, added to a mixed week for job news for North Carolina this week.
The news comes as CNBC announces that the Tar Heel State was named 'America's Top State for Business in 2025'.
Secretary of State Elaine Marshall told Council of State members at their meeting on Tuesday that the state had 17,373 new business creations in May, the second highest ever recorded, right behind June 2021. That year set a record for the state with 178,300 businesses created.
She said this was especially good news as the first quarter of this year was slow and added that new business creations in the 30-county western region were slightly better than statewide numbers. Also, April and May of this year have been the best two months for new business creation in the 30-county western region since January 2024.
"When you take the time period of September 2024 when the storm hit, through May of this year, and then compare it to the same period of the year before, statewide new business creation numbers were down slightly," Marshall said.
"However, in the 30-county region, it was only down by 1%."
Gov. Josh Stein said at the meeting that the good news continued, with the state having its best month for job recruitment in June. This was primarily due to the announcement of Jet Zero Inc. investing $4.7 billion to launch its first manufacturing plant at Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro, a project expected to generate over 14,000 jobs by 2036.
JetZero Inc. is an aerospace start-up pioneering the development of the Z4, a revolutionary blended-wing body jet. The design integrates the wings and fuselage into a unified structure, allowing the entire wingspan to generate lift and improve aerodynamic efficiency.
"This is where they thought they had their best chance, and it's because of our people," he noted, saying that they weren't done yet in announcing new jobs coming to the state, specifically in the Charlotte region.
Later that day, his office announced that Citigroup, Inc. would create 510 additional jobs in Charlotte. The global financial services company will invest $16.1 million in an office facility in Mecklenburg County. The average salary for the new positions will be $131,832, with an annual payroll impact of more than $65 million per year.
The state also awarded the company a Job Development Investment Grant (JDIG).
The project is estimated to grow the state's economy by more than $2.7 billion over the 10-year grant term. If the company follows through, it would be reimbursed over $8.9 million over that period.
AssetMark, a leading wealth management platform for financial advisors, will also receive a JDIG grant from the state if it follows through on the announced 252 jobs promised for Charlotte.
Headquartered in Concord, California, AssetMark provides services to financial advisors. Its expansion in Charlotte will establish the location as the company's East Coast Hub, supporting nearly 4,300 advisors in the region.
The average salary for the new positions will be $110,518, with an annual payroll impact of more than $27 million per year.
AssetMark also received a JDIG grant from the state. The project is estimated to grow the state's economy by more than $1.2 billion over the 12-year term of the grant. The company would also be reimbursed over $1.9 million over the 12 years.
Meanwhile, another project incentivized with a JDIG grant fell through earlier this week as clinical trial lab services provider Q2 Solutions couldn't fulfill its agreement with the state to create 750 jobs over seven years and invest $84 million.
A subsidiary of IQVIA, Q2 officials told the state in a June 26 letter that it would have to terminate two separate JDIG agreements from November 2019.
The company's plans included two phases. The first JDIG grant would have provided over $4.2 million paid over 12 years if the company meets performance targets and would create 293 jobs over two years. The JDIG2 grant began in 2023 and would provide the company with over $5.3 million over 12 years, again, based on performance targets, and would create 456 new jobs over five years. The project was expected to grow the state's economy by over $1 billion.
Durham County was to provide incentives up to $950,000 over seven years if the performance criteria was achieved. North Carolina Community Colleges will provide $439,500 in customized training support tied to JDIG1 and $775,200 in training tied to JDIG2.
So far, Q2 has only added 179 jobs and retained 273 employees through the first grant. Information for hiring under the second grant was not available.
If they followed through with the agreement, they were also eligible to receive up to $9.8 million in payroll tax benefits.
JDIG grants have not had a good track record in the state, with many companies not holding up their end of the bargain despite all the incentives the state provides.
