News

Report on local economy endorses manufacturing jobs

A graph shows job loss and job growth in Henderson County.

By Bill Moss, Published: October 4, 2015

A new report on the local economy supports the current emphasis by the Henderson County Board of Commissioners to invest in incentives that result in new manufacturing jobs.

Factory jobs pay more and contribute more tax money to the county than jobs in other sectors, said the report, which the commissioners will review for the first time publicly on Monday.
The Economic Assessment Report of Henderson County was produced by Tom Tveidt of SYNEVA Economics at a cost of $25,000. Commissioners authorized the study at the urging of Bill Lapsley, who as a newly elected commissioner said that the county needed accurate and detailed information to support its decisions on spending, job recruitment and services.
The study reported on county demographics, income and average wage, employment, the value of business equipment, and key economic activity and key economic activity and impacts.
“On a strict return on investment basis manufacturing promises the strongest returns,” Tveidt said. “All things being equal, the findings would support policy benefiting the growth and retention of manufacturing.” Even while manufacturing outshines other job sectors, the report cautioned against downplaying the importance of health care, agribusiness, tourism and in-migration to the county’s economic growth.
Not surprisingly, the report “points to the need for actions that support quality job creation,” Tveidt concluded. “Policies designed to attract and retain well-paying jobs have the potential to resolve many of the economic weaknesses in the county.”

One revelation sheds light on why there's so much traffic on I-26. Residents in this area don't work where they live.

As of 2013, more than half the county’s employed residents commuted outside the county for work and at the samew time in-commuting workers outnumbered Henderson County residents who are working in the county where they live.

“I’m saving my thoughts and comments till the mid-month meeting," Lapsley said on Sunday. "All I'm doing is formally giving it to them and the public and giving everybody a couple of weeks to read it and think about it and at the mid-month meeting the guy who put it all together will come in and present it and then answer some questions."

A research economist, Tveidt "has done a lot of work for Buncombe County," Lapsley said.

Lapsley said the report did seem to endorse the recruiting of factory jobs.

"My first blush at it I think that’s what it’s saying," he said.

Here are some highlights:

• Demographically, the county has seen four decades of unbroken growth and the pattern should continue, fueled largely by in-migration. At 46.1, the average age of county residents is 8.3 above the state average and 8.7 above the U.S. average. Despite the impression that most new residents are retirees, the study showed that more than half of newcomers are under 35. The education level of county residents closely tracks state and national levels.
• Income: At $38,611, the average income is on par with the state average but 16 percent below the national average. The inflation-adjusted increase in per capita income was $1,784 over 10 years, a 6.2 percent increase that led the average gain across the state by 1.3 percent but trailed the national gain by 2 percent. The average wage has decreaed, however, by 2.6 percent over the past 10 years. Social Security and Medicare are contributing a greater share of the total county income, now at 24 percent of all income.
• Employment: Total county employment peaked in 2008, and the number still trails that high mark by 2,101 workers, or 5.7 percent. The unemployment rate, at 4.6 percent, is a point below state and national averages.

Four business sectors dominate the local economy, accounting for 57 percent of all jobs: health care, at 5,843, or 17 percent; manufacturing, 5,312 or 15 percent; retail trade, 4,932 or 14 percent; and accommodations and food services, 3,886 or 11 percent. Over the past five years, the largest jobs growth has been in accommodations and food services — an industry that pays wages 56 percent below the county average — followed by health care and manufacturing. The biggest job demand, based on the research company’s analysis of want-ads, was in health care, accounting for at 31 percent of new jobs; and retail, at 21 percent.
By total tax dollars generated, manufacturing led, at $267.9 million, followed by health care, agribusiness and tourism.
The county’s population, at 111,149, is projected to increase to just under 130,000 in 2029, and the growth is entirely driven by in-migration. Natural growth is negative — more people die than are born — by 962 from 2010 to 2014. Henderson County is among just 11 percent of 3,142 counties nationwide with net growth accounted for by in-migration only, the report said.
The county’s average wage, at $35,929, is 24 percent below the stage average and 39 percent below the national average, and the rate of growth in wages has also lagged behind the state and nation.
A look at business personal property — furniture, machinery, equipment and other taxable assets that businesses own — showed that manufacturing accounted for 69 percent of the $880 million in taxable value, followed by retail trade and real estate rentals.
The average manufacturing wage, at $965 a week, is 42 percent above the county average. Manufacturing jobs had been declining until 2009. They reversed the slide and have been gaining since then.
Agribusiness accounted for 2,923 direct jobs paying $515 a week and 1,349 support jobs paying $644. Farm income was $101.5 million, according to the report, a number that is well below the estimate county agriculture advocates generally cite.
In terms of tax dollars generated and average wage, manufacturing leads all other job sectors.