DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) — State and business officials gathered in Durham on Thursday to discuss how North Carolina can maintain its momentum in attracting economic investment.
“There’s a lot of people and businesses moving into the state, and that clearly has driven a lot of the economic opportunity, especially in the larger metro areas in places like Charlotte and Raleigh. But also North Carolina’s known for having a very strong university system, strong community college system that’s also producing regular streams of talent,” said Dr. Laura Ullrich, the Director of Economic Research at job search website Indeed.
“We had to align the jobs of the time with the jobs of the future, with the demand that we knew was coming. Getting that alignment with our education and workforce systems, a number of things helped us to do that. The second piece was a competitive business climate. We didn’t rank very well on tax, torts, civil liability, or our regulatory environment. We were out of the top 20 in many of those, so we needed to get to the top five. Now we’re very competitive on any of those measures. The other (pillar) was infrastructure investment. We weren’t making the critical infrastructure investments necessary for communities to be healthy and grow jobs. We made landmark investments in our transportation and supply chain networks (with) over $10 billion over ten years to do that. Strategic investments in our ports that were critical, strategic investments in energy that were critical to keep it available, modern, and affordable going forward,” said NC Chamber President and CEO Gary Salamido.
CNBC rated North Carolina as the country’s top state for business in 2025.
“The strongest growth has been in the health care sector. And part of that is because of the growth in population. But a bigger part of that is the demographic shifts and kind of the aging of the of the people that live in North Carolina,” said Ullrich, who noted life sciences, biotech, and advanced manufacturing are all also seeing increases in the state.
A 2023 report from the Office of State Budget and Management predicted North Carolina’s population of residents 65 years and older is projected to increase 50% by 2041.
Despite its success, Salamido noted there are several challenges the state faces moving forward.
“We need to look at child care, we need to look at housing, and make sure that both of those are accessible and affordable. Those are big-time strategic decisions that are going to require courage and commitment to do that. We also have to address energy. We know that we need to figure out how North Carolina can lead and get us to a zero-emission nuclear energy place as fast as anybody else is going to do,” said Salamido.
While metro areas have long drawn the attention of companies, Ullrich explained that its bordering counties are now benefiting from investments.
“If you look at where you could build a large manufacturing facility, it’s probably not going to be Wake County. You’re going to need to go out into the more rural areas in these urban adjacent spaces. We’re seeing that sort of growth in Lee County and Johnson County and Chatham County, where there is land available,” Ullrich explained.
Salamido pointed to working with state lawmakers as important in creating a more business-friendly regulatory environment. He moderated a conversation on Thursday with Senate President Phil Berger and Senator Dan Blue called “A Culture of Collaboration: Reaching Across the Aisle and the State.”
“The North Carolina legislature has, by design by the Constitution has a lot of authority and a lot of ability to set up the rules of the road. The rules of the road need to be set up to enable innovation, to enable people to come in and do innovative things and do things in a modern way,” said Salamido.
Then there are federal actions, such as the implementation of tariffs, that are impacting North Carolina businesses.
“If the tariffs go into effect, which I understand they are on some imported products, that puts a strain on the American manufacturing side,” said Phillip Fletcher, the owner of Durham Bookcases & Other Cool Wood Stuff, who has worked out of the same space on South Duke Street for 51 years.
The business has its own manufacturing facility on site.
“We have a lot of control over what we can do and we can react so much faster to changes or customers’ needs. If there’s a problem, we can react to it quickly,” Fletcher explained.
He supports efforts to onshore production.
“There’s areas that do not go after business or don’t go after manufacturing, and they’re only going to become stagnant because they’re going to get left behind,” said Fletcher.
As he preached flexibility in meeting customers where they are, Fletcher stressed the importance of maintaining quality.
“Do it well and be consistent with it,” Fletcher said.
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