GOP crowing over CNBC study touting NC for business

A week after S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley's jobs-recruitment victory lap through York and Chester counties just south of Charlotte, N.C. Republican leaders are pointing to a new CNBC study as evidence that the Tar Heel State isn't getting crushed by the Palmetto State or other economic development rivals on their watch. The study ranked North Carolina No. 5 (Georgia was No. 1, followed by perennial development powerhouse Texas). The study measured a range of factors; North Carolina ranked most strongly on the health of its economy and the quality of its workforce.

South Carolina ranked a distant 24th, earning its strongest ranking for its low cost of doing business. N.C. Republican Party Chairman Claude Pope issued a statement calling the study proof that the GOP's legislative agenda, which includes rolling back tax rates and revamping job recruitment, is working. "North Carolina is getting back to work," he said.

Gov. Pat McCrory and his GOP allies have rewritten
the state's job-recruitment playbook

Critics -- including some insiders in economic development circles -- grouse that the state has traditionally ranked high in such measures, the effects of the recent recession notwithstanding. The new lower corporate and individual tax rates took effect in January, and it was just on Tuesday that McCrory signed into law the reorganization of the Commerce Department's job-recuitment function.

Republicans, the critics say, "fixed" a job-recruitment system that wasn't broken. Democrats, powerless in Raleigh after decades of wielding legislative power, say the tax cuts have benefitted the wealthy while weakening funding for schools and universities, traditionally areas of competitive advantage for North Carolina relative to its Southern neighbors. With such high political stakes riding on job production numbers in an election year, we're sure to hear plenty more of this debate in the months ahead.

More jobs headed to Charlotte as Korean firm sets up shop

A South Korean tool manufacturing firm announced Thursday that it will set up shop in Charlotte, hiring about 53 people at an average salary of $63,111.

YG-1 USA, which the Charlotte Chamber said ranks among the top five cutting tool manufacturers in the world, will invest $13.8 million in the project. The new facility at 11001 Park Charlotte Boulevard in southwest Charlotte will build high-performance cutting tools for the aerospace, medical and power generation industries. It will also serve as a hub for the company's research, development and engineering of cutting tool technology.

"We chose Charlotte because of its optimistic growth and bright future business outlook both domestically and internationally," said H.K. Song, chairman and president of YG-1 Korea.

Chamber President Bob Morgan said the company's move to Charlotte further burnishes the area's growing international advanced manufacturing presence. YG-1's parent company, based in Seoul, employs more than 5,000 workers around the globe, the chamber said.

N.C. earns top 10 ranking for attracting corporations, jobs

The good news: Site Selection Magazine, a journal that tracks the fierce interstate competition for corporate relocations, expansions and jobs, says North Carolina ranks No. 7 among states for the number of corporate facility projects landed in 2013. The Tarheel state pulled in 223 projects meeting met Site Selection's criteria of involving one or more of the following: a minimum capital commercial investment of $1 million, 20,000 square feet or more of new construction or creation of 50 or more new jobs.

The bad news: oil-rich Texas, which topped the last, raked in 657 such projects -- nearly three times as many as North Carolina. The magazine awarded the Lone Star State its Governor's Cup. A second went to Nebraska, which had the most projects per capita at 109.

(Interestingly, South Carolina, which Gov. Pat McCrory and other N.C. officials are constantly eyeing as next-door competition, didn't make the top 10 of either list).

Chinese TV report: Charlotte is new corporate mecca

Charlotte's apparently making a name for itself in Chinese business circles. We received fairly dramatic evidence of that recently when a Chinese yarn manufacturer announced plans to open a big factory in Lancaster County and employ 500 people.

Now comes this TV news report from China Central Television, a state TV broadcasting company in mainland China, that digs into the growing trend of Chinese firms setting up shop in Charlotte, and in the Carolinas more generally. The folks at the Charlotte Regional Partnership posted it on their site with good reason. It's virtually an ad for the business-friendly reception firms can get in Charlotte and the Carolinas.

With Chinese labor costs rising and American power costs sinking, experts say we can expect to see more Chinese firms setting up shop in the near future.

New N.C. jobs plan headed to McCrory's desk

At a Charlotte Chamber luncheon, the head of the N.C. Economic Development Board said the panel will present a new economic development roadmap for the state to Gov. Pat McCrory on Friday. Board Chairman John Lassiter told the chamber's Metro Chapter Wednesday that the document will provide a roadmap for the new privatized economic development agency the state is creating. Lassiter didn't detail the particulars of the plan, but said in general it will cover a range of issues the state confronts in trying to grow more industry and jobs.

For one thing, he said the board studied areas where the state could better capitalize on areas where it already shows some strength. For instance, he said, the state is one of the nation's leading producers of plastics, but has a dearth of related chemical companies. It is among the largest sweet potato growers, but has few processing plants, he said.

"We think we've got a roadmap to recovery," he said.

The new plan will guide the nonprofit Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina, which sometime this year is expected to assume the N.C. Department of Commerce's job of marketing the state to companies and recruiting new jobs and industry. Earlier this month, Triangle-area business executive Dick Lindenmuth was appointed to lead the new agency.

"A lot of things have to take place over the next six months, but I think we'll be totally operational by about June or July," he told reporters before his speech.

Study: Charlotte posts 27th best-performing economy

A new study by the Milken Institute suggests Charlotte still has work to do when it comes to economic performance. The study lists the Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, S.C., metropolitan area as having the 27th best-performing economy among large U.S. cities. And that's actually an improvement over the previous year, when Charlotte ranked 35th out of 200 cities.

The study measured categories such as jobs, wages, salary and technology output. Employment growth was weighted most heavily, according to this methodology explainer. Tech-heavy cities seemed to do well, with Austin, Tx., heading the list. The Raleigh-Cary area came in at No. 13, while Charleston-North Charleston-Summerville, S.C., boasts the highest ranking for any city in the Carolinas, coming in at No. 11.

Charlotte job-recruiters heading to Germany

On Friday, a delegation representing Charlotte’s business sector is scheduled to fly to Germany on a job-recruitment trip.

Their goal: to bring more companies and more jobs to Charlotte. They’ve got meetings scheduled with 10 German companies during their four-day stay, hoping to convince them to set up shop in the Queen City.

Sven Gerzer, a vice president for economic development with the Charlotte Chamber, summed up the objective in two words: “Plant seeds.”

You could say they’re playing to Charlotte’s strength. Some 127 German companies already have operations in Charlotte, according to chamber statistics for 2012. That makes Germany by far the country with the biggest business presence in Charlotte. (The United Kingdom ranks No. 2 with 84 firms).

Gerzer, a native of Munich, will be a key salesman for Charlotte. He speaks German and understands the culture, having grown up there. But he also knows the Carolinas. He graduated with bachelor's and master's degrees in international studies from the University of South Carolina's highly touted program. (He chose the university after his parents said he could go anywhere in the world for college – but he’d be helping to pay for it, he recalled with a chuckle).

His personal story might prove persuasive to German business leaders. He enjoys life here in the Carolinas that he has no desire to return to Germany. “I love it here,” he says. “It makes my job (selling the city to companies) easier because I believe what I tell them.”