Celebrating Labor Day: What is the future of work in the Asheville area?
ASHEVILLE – Asheville and Buncombe County are growing fast. According to data from the North Carolina Department of Commerce, the workforce in the Asheville region, which encompasses Madison, Buncombe, Transylvania, Henderson, Rutherford and Polk counties, is expected to increase by 8.7% from 2021 to 2030.
The composition of the workforce has changed. Manufacturing once had a much larger presence in the Asheville area. In Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson, Madison and Transylvania counties, manufacturing employment decreased from more than 33,000 workers in 1990, to around 17,000 in 2010. Recently, the sector has been making a rebound. As of July 2023, there are more than 22,000 manufacturing workers in the area, despite the June closing of the Pactiv-Evergreen plant in Canton, which left more than 1,000 workers jobless.
Not all manufacturing workers have the same skillset. According to Nathan Ramsey, the Executive Director of Land of Sky Regional Council, and former chair of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners, the types of manufacturing workers in the area typically now have more skill.
“The manufacturing jobs we have today are different than they were in 1990,” Ramsey told the Citizen Times Aug. 30. “We don’t have any manufacturing jobs for a lot of the workforce that didn’t complete high school, or lower skilled jobs. Many of the jobs require additional training beyond high school.”
So as Labor Day comes Sept. 4, workers in the region who may be enjoying the federal holiday have different occupations. Here are the top employers in Buncombe County, according to the department of commerce, and where labor growth is expected.
Buncombe's top employers
Mission Health Hospital: Over 1,000 employees. Mission Health, which includes six hospitals in the region, was bought by HCA in 2019 for $1.5 billion. Mission Hospital is the largest of the group. It is a Level 2 trauma center located in Asheville.
Ingles Markets: Over 1,000 employees. Ingles has locations across six states across the South. It has 17 locations in Buncombe County, with its headquarters in Black Mountain.
Buncombe County Board of Education: Almost 4,000 employees. The Buncombe County School District began its 2023-2024 school year Aug. 28.
Veterans Administration: Over 1,000 employees. According to statistics collected by Medicare, the VA Medical Center in Asheville has a five-star patient and overall rating.
Biltmore Workforce Management: Over 1,000 employees. The Biltmore Estate is George Vanderbilt’s 250-room chateau on the banks of the French Broad River in South Asheville. It is one of the main tourist attractions in the area and a steady contributor to the economy.
Where is growth headed?
The greatest amount of growth in the Asheville area will occur in the tourism economy and in health care, according to projections from the state’s commerce department. Here are the subsectors the state projects will have the most growth in the Asheville area from 2021 to 2030 in net jobs:
Food services and drinking places: 3,775 jobs.
Ambulatory health care services: 2,786 jobs.
Professional, scientific and technical services: 1,342 jobs.
Hospitals: 1,134 jobs.
Food and beverage stores: 1,023 jobs.
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Ramsey does not find this shocking. “Health care is going to continue to grow and outstrip our ability to provide a workforce that can support health care because the demographics of our society, the baby boomer generation retiring,” he said. “Our region is older and sicker than the nation. Health care will continue taking a larger share of our economy just based on demographics.”
He added, “we’re a hospitality mecca.”
And finally, “professional technical services has been one of the fastest growing sectors lately. And those jobs generally pay really well. So, that bodes well for our future.”
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Ramsey thinks the largest challenge that the region faces are wages that lag the state and the nation, and a high cost of housing. He added that this isn’t unique to the region, but is a national trend. “Wages have gone up a lot. Housing has outpaced that,” he said.
According to the state commerce department, the average private sector wage in Buncombe County is $51,080 per year, while in North Carolina it is $62,248 per year. According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, home prices appreciated 5% faster in the Asheville area than in the state from the first quarter of 2021 to the second quarter of 2023.
“Housing has never been more unaffordable in the United States than it is right now,” Ramsey added.
Ramsey’s glass is still “half full” on the economy in the region. “There are a lot of things happening in a positive way,” he said. “You still have a significant number of job openings in the region. Far more than job seekers.”
Mitchell Black covers Buncombe County and health care for the Citizen Times. Email him at mblack@citizentimes.com or follow him on Twitter @MitchABlack. Please help support local journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Who are top 5 employers in Asheville and Buncombe County?
