Robeson County business leaders see report on growth in job creation

LUMBERTON — The message local community and business leaders heard Thursday night was “Boy, do I feel good!”

During the first post pandemic meeting of the Robeson County Committee of 100, Robeson County Economic Development Director Channing Jones pointed to a list of more than a dozen projects promising about 1,000 new jobs in greater Robeson County.

Those jobs are coming to Robeson County and North Carolina, he said, because employers understand one of the first rules of business success: location.

“We’re located between Miami and Maine,” said Jones, who has coordinated with a number of local and state officials to promote Robeson County as the best place on the East Coast to do business.

Jones said he frequently tells prospective employers that 68% of U.S. businesses are within an 18-hour drive of Robeson County.

Another major reason that makes Robeson County so attractive is its investment in providing a skilled workforce. Jones pointed to the county’s labor pool coming from The University of North Carolina at Pembroke, Robeson Community College and the new Career and Technical Education Center operated by the Public Schools of Robeson County.

Jones said it was incumbent upon business and educational leaders to prepare our students for success.

“If we don’t have skilled labor, nothing else matters,” Jones said.

“We have to have a skilled labor force,” he said. “We have to have diversification of companies. We have to tell our story a little better.”

Jones urged the crowd that filled the Southeastern NC Agricultural Center convention center to spread the word about Robeson County’s momentum.

Part of that momentum comes from local business leaders navigating through the last two years of the pandemic, which is illustrated by a number of factors, including one of the lowest unemployment rates in the state. The jobless rate here has for the last year hovered around 6%, which some economists consider near full employment.

Jones’ presentation followed the evening’s keynote speaker Scott T. Hamilton, president and CEO of the Golden LEAF Foundation.

Hamilton outlined the foundation’s goals of boosting economic opportunity in the state’s economically distressed communities “through leadership in grantmaking, collaboration, innovation, and stewardship as an independent and perpetual foundation.”

Hamilton’s message was well received by members of the Robeson County Committee of 100, which likewise serves to benefit local economic development throughout the county.

The philanthropic organization was established in 1986 as a dues-driven collection of local leaders and businesses providing support for employers, educational services, job training and other pro-growth efforts in the county.