Wake County Economic Development October Recap

The town of Knightdale is located nine miles from downtown Raleigh and has convenient access to the Research Triangle Park and Raleigh-Durham International Airport. Its current estimated population is 13,072, and it is among the fastest growing municipalities in Wake County. At 30.8, Knightdale has the youngest medial age of any municipality throughout the county. Given that more than 40 percent of the town's population holds at least a bachelor's degree, the town's median household income is $70,512. Over the past four years, Knightdale has invested approximately $15 million dollars in public projects, such as: a 74 acre park (with four multi-purpose fields, trails, a dog park, two multi-purpose shelters, and an amphitheater); 3.5 miles of greenway connecting to Raleigh's Neuse River greenway by way of a pedestrian bridge; and First Avenue roadway and streetscape improvements. Knightdale's largest employers are Schneider Electric, a global leader in electrical distribution, automation, and energy management, and ESP/SurgeX, a provider of energy intelligence and power protection solutions. Currently, two industrial parks are planned and at completion will total 1,000,000 square feet of space. One park will be located off of Hinton Oaks Boulevard. while the other is proposed off of Hodge Road. 

Since the beginning of 2014, 74 companies have announced relocations or expansions in Wake County. This accounts for the creation of 4,340 new jobs and investment of more than $466 million. Of those announcements, 44 (58 percent) are in Wake County Economic Development's cluster industries. 

Project Metrics Since January 2014: 

Since Jan. 1, 2014, Wake County Economic Development has worked directly on 93 projects from companies considering relocations or expansions in Wake County. These projects would total 14,778 new jobs and more than $2.67 billion of investment if each were to successfully locate in Wake County. WCED has also hosted 29 client visits to the area.

Citrix Opens New Office in Downtown Raleigh's Warehouse District

Citrix hosted a grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony on Oct. 9 to open its new ultra-modern 170,000-square-foot office space in the warehouse district of downtown Raleigh. Wake County Economic Development staff attended the event and had the opportunity to view the new workspace. The office includes open booth collaborative spaces, a rooftop garden, and creative conference rooms made from transatlantic shipping containers. These creative elements and more were incorporated into the design of the building in an effort to support work-life balance and drive employee engagement.

French and Chinese Delegations Visit Wake County

Two international delegations visited the Triangle region in October. Wake County Economic Development and the Greater Raleigh Chamber hosted a delegation from the Cote d'Azur region in southern France on Oct. 9. The delegation was interested in learning about the regional economy and our strength in clean technology. This was the second meeting with representatives from Cote d'Azur, and WCED continues to establish partnerships between the two communities. WCED also met with a delegation from China on Oct.15. This was the delegation's first visit to Raleigh and North Carolina. WCED provided an overview of the regional economy and discussed strengths of the community, including education, infrastructure, and quality of life.  

WCED and Greater Raleigh Chamber Launch Edge 5 Campaign 

More than 100 current Edge investors and community business leaders attended the official Edge 5 campaign kickoff on Oct. 14 at The Umstead Hotel and Spa in Cary. Edge 5 is an aggressive five-year program to invest $12 million in five key pillars: Regional Competitiveness & Cooperation; Marketing & Public Relations; New Business Attraction & Job Creation; Existing Industry Support, Innovation & Entrepreneurship; Talent Attraction & Development; and Quality of Place & Sustainability. The goal of the campaign is to create 100,000 jobs in the region with more than 65,000 of these in Wake County with an associated annual income of over $5 billion.

WCED Sponsors Come Tech Out The Triangle Job Fair

Work in the Triangle, the talent attraction initiative of Wake County Economic Development and the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce, partnered with NCTA and CED to host the Come Tech Out The Triangle Career Fair on Tuesday, Oct. 21. More than 20 companies, including Dude Solutions, Credit Suisse, HCL Technologies, and MetLife, participated in the career fair at NC State University's McKimmon Center. The career fair, focused on tech talent and tech companies, advertised more than 2,000 available jobs and had more than 400 job seekers in attendance. The NC State University Jenkins Graduate School of Management hosted a free workshop during the job fair entitled "How to Be an Employer's First Choice." In addition, Work in the Triangle held a virtual career fair during the event, sharing jobs from participating companies via social media.

SAS Unveils Building Q 

Jennifer Bosser, assistant executive director of WCED, recently attended the grand opening of SAS' newest building. The 220,000-square-foot addition, known as "Building Q," was unveiled on Oct. 21. Q will house SAS Solutions on Demand and has the capacity to accommodate up to 600 additional employees. This is the 23rd building at SAS and the seventh structure to obtain LEED certification for its environmental features.    

WCED Participates In Consultant Calls in Chicago 

Michael Haley, director of business recruitment and expansion, participated with the City of Raleigh and the Research Triangle Regional Partnership in calling on economic development and site selection consultants in Chicago on Oct. 28 - 30. The regional partners met with consultants to update them on recent activities within the Triangle market, strengthen relationships, and discuss pending projects and potential future projects.  

New Staff Joins Wake County Economic Development

Wake County Economic Development welcomed two new staff members to its team in October. Ashley Cagle joined the team as project manager and Morgan Servie as PR and marketing manager.

2014 State of Mobility

Dec. 11

11:30 a.m. --  1:30 p.m.

The Regional Transportation Alliance will welcome more than 300 business, elected, and transportation leaders at the State of Mobility 2014 event.  Attendees will receive insights into key transportation and legislative priorities that impact our region's mobility, economy, and quality of life.

For a full list of rankings, please download the Raleigh/Wake County Rankings Flyer.

• #3 Mid-Sized Metro for College Students 
  (Raleigh-Cary, NC) American Institute for Economic Research

Labor Force & Employment

Since September 2014, Wake County's labor force has increased by 6,088 and employment has increased by 9,654. This represents a growth of 1.2 percent and 2 percent, respectively. The number of those unemployed----displayed in the graph above as the differential of labor force and employment----has fallen by 6.2 percent to 24,628.

Unemployment Rate

Wake County's unemployment rate, the proportion of those unemployed relative to the labor force, has fallen from 5.6 percent in September of last year to 4.9 percent this year. This represents a 0.7 percent decrease.