It is indeed fitting that the Rocky Mount Area Chamber of Commerce chose October to highlight the importance of manufacturing to the local and state economy, just a few weeks after Gov. Pat McCrory signed into law the NC Competes Jobs Plan, which allocates $20 million a year into the state’s business recruitment efforts.
Manufacturing employs more than 448,000 people in North Carolina, and the Twin Counties certainly has its share of quality manufacturers, including pharmaceutical giant Hospira, longtime Rocky Mount fixture Draka Elevator Products, Tarboro’s Keihin Carolina System Technology and ABB Inc. in Pinetops, just to name a few.
Manufacturing jobs pay high wages and provide good benefits to help not only support working families but to allow them to thrive as they pursue the American dream. With the replenishment of the state’s industrial recruitment fund, Twin Counties business recruiters at the Carolinas Gateway Partnership now have the certainty that they will have access to the incentives they need to add to the growing list of successful companies in the Twin Counties.
And the area has much to offer prospective businesses, including an abundance of industrial sites ready for occupation. As Telegram staff writer Corey Davis reported Sunday, not only does the area boast the state-of-the-art Kingsboro Industrial Park megasite, the Twin Counties also has smaller industrial sites available, such as the Whitakers Business and Industry Center, West Nashville Commerce Park, Nashville Business Center, Middlesex Corporate Centre and Fountain Industrial Park.
It took state lawmakers a while to finally respond to McCrory’s pleas to replenish the state’s business recruitment fund, but the fact that they did may well translate into more good things for our area.
