Fresh Profile: Jobs in North Carolina

Published on 2008-08-05

In the last 30 years, the Tar Heel state has begun to experience an economic shift as it moves away from its historical pillars such as agriculture and manufacturing and towards finance, technology, and research as the drivers of the future.

While tobacco has traditionally been a primary source of North Carolina jobs, tobacco farmers face new challenges stemming from global competitors, government buyouts of large farms, and a general decline in the smoking population. In order to stay afloat, many farmers have diversified their crop production to include livestock, vegetables, fruits, and grains. Nonetheless, North Carolina is the leading raw tobacco producer in the U.S., and as long as it remains so, it is unlikely that farm jobs will disappear completely. Increased demand for locally grown produce and organic products could also help create agricultural jobs for North Carolina farmers.

As declining demand for tobacco reduces the number of available ag jobs, the state's reliance on the financial sector has grown. After New York, Charlotte is the largest banking center in the country and is home to such giants as Bank of America and Wachovia that have boosted the local economy and created banking jobs. Indeed, jobs in Charlotte, NC, tend to be influenced not only by those two corporations but also by the five other Fortune 500 companies in the Charlotte metro area. Overall, banking and finance jobs in the state grew by 45% from 1990-2006, according to the Social Science Research Institute (SSRI).

North Carolina's substantial furniture industry has been hit by overseas competitors in China, Italy, and Mexico, where labor wages are much lower than they are in the U.S. Still, about 52,000 North Carolinians hold production jobs, says the SSRI. Whether jobs in Greensboro, North Carolina, and other cities continue to include furniture making will depend on whether the leading companies can stay competitive.

Although North Carolina textile jobs were once in abundance, the same issues which have bogged down tobacco and furniture making have bedeviled the textile and apparel industry. During a 12-month period which ended in May 2006, nearly 7,000 textile jobs in North Carolina were eliminated by the combined forces of globalization, changes in the sourcing patterns of lead firms, and the onset of buyer-driven lead firms in global apparel and textile value chains, reports the SSRI. However, there may still be some hope for textile jobs; companies that export textile goods to overseas companies for use in creating final products are seeing growth. Fourteen percent of North Carolina's exports fall within textiles and apparel, the SSRI notes.

In addition to banking and finance, biotechnology and information technology are two other industries which are currently thriving in North Carolina. The number of biotechnology jobs has been helped by the presence of big biotech and pharmaceutical firms such as Bayer, Biogen Idec, GlaxoSmithKline, and Wyeth. In addition, Research Triangle Park, the largest research park in the U.S., is home base for an estimated 50,000 research jobs.

Data from the SSRI shows that more than 87,000 people held information technology jobs in North Carolina in 2006. As with biotechnology, information technology is the spirit of North Carolina's future. The state's strengths lie in software, hardware, and semiconductors. Key players such as RF Micro Devices, IBM, Cisco Systems, and Flextronics International have raised North Carolina's profile in the industry and provided IT jobs.
Arts and entertainment is another industry with a notable presence in North Carolina. The North Carolina landscape has been featured in films and TV shows such as "The Andy Griffith Show" for many years, and film studios provide jobs in Raleigh, NC, and other cities across the state. Additionally, the North Carolina School of the Arts raises the visibility of arts in the state and prepares students for arts and entertainment jobs in North Carolina and beyond.

In light of the recent economic changes, job seekers will have to rely on newer methods such as Internet job boards to find the best biotechnology, information technology, finance, and recreation jobs in North Carolina. When you want to find employment openings in these industries, visit Fresho.com. We offer free job and resume posting, effective job search tools, and more.