Roles for Local Planners in Industrial Recruitment

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New Challenges for Local Economic Development Planners: Roles for Local Planners in Industrial Recruitment

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Redmond, Michael
- Other Affiliation: Partner, C & R Associates, Chapel Hill, NC

Abstract

The economy of North Carolina has undergone many changes in the last 20 years. The large increases in employment and population are well known. The exodus of displaced farm workers to the North has ceased and many of the new jobs entering the state are higher paying than those in the traditional manufacturing base of textiles and apparel. Although North Carolina still ranks near the bottom in average manufacturing wages, state officials are optimistic about the future because of many economists' predictions of continued expansion of higher wage jobs. Officials are also encouraged by indications that new industry is locating in the poorer areas of the state, and that convergence of wages and income seems to be occurring among the different regions of the state. Despite this outlook, some areas of the state will probably continue to lag in income growth, new employment, and other aspects of economic development. In part this will be due to limitations in the state's industrial recruitment, the dominant economic development policy operating in North Carolina. This article considers the weakness of industrial recruitment and suggests ways in which it could be improved. These suggestions will involve new roles for local planners in the economic development process.

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