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I don't think the city government in Greenville 'focuses' on manufacturing more than any other metro outside of tourist / wealthy retiree areas. They are not making it difficult for non manufacturing companies to come here.
City government, no. Most manufacturing facilities are in the suburbs. It has been a regional effort however, particularly when it comes to the type of industry, such as automotive.
Targeting certain industries by regional/state economic development officials doesn't mean they make it "difficult" for others to locate in the area and that's not an inference that can be logically made IMO. It's simply playing to regional strengths and over time, as a region gains notoriety relative to certain industries, agglomeration starts occurring on its own.
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All of the large cities in this country boomed at least in part because they have a lot of manufacturers in the metro.
Of course but in the postwar era, the service sector began to emerge as the dominant economic one in the West due to technological advances, globalization, deindustrialization, etc.
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Manufacturing companies hire engineers, chemists, microbiologists, business people and other people who have college degrees. Manufacturing plants then attract design engineering firms and other companies that provide services to support the plants. There are engineers, chemists etc working at manufacturing plants in small towns like Greenwood that moved here from out of state or another country.
Large manufacturers do more than anything to boost the population which in turns creates demand for more teachers, more physicians, pharmacists and other healthcare workers, more retail and restaurants, etc.
Over time this can happen of course, but initially when new manufacturing largely employs a workforce left in place by departing dominant industries, the effect is replacement and not necessarily expansion.
The manufacturing plants locating in Greenville is the reason Greenville has a nice downtown today. The population has to be there first for a downtown to be that nice. The cash flow is kind of important.
No one industry is solely responsible for Greenville's downtown today. The property taxes generated by commercial properties annexed by the city over the years, along with public-private partnerships within downtown itself, are the primary reasons for the state of downtown Greenville today.
The Midwest and northeast have seen first hand the effects of being too dominant in a single jib sector. Cities and regions in those areas have still not recovered from job losses in manufacturing and some of those jobs losses go back a decade or two.
When a community is heavily dominated by a job sector and that sector collapses, it is difficult to recover.
It appears that Greenville’s economy is healthy, but it may need to continue to diversify. The cities that are booming are those that have strong job growth in many sectors.
The Midwest and northeast have seen first hand the effects of being too dominant in a single jib sector. Cities and regions in those areas have still not recovered from job losses in manufacturing and some of those jobs losses go back a decade or two.
When a community is heavily dominated by a job sector and that sector collapses, it is difficult to recover.
It appears that Greenville’s economy is healthy, but it may need to continue to diversify. The cities that are booming are those that have strong job growth in many sectors.
Actually there are quite a few cities booming that have one dominant sector, most notably the big tech hubs like SV/SF, Austin, Boston, Raleigh/Durham, etc. Charlotte, Orlando, and Vegas are other examples. But I agree that a diversified economic base is a good thing for sure. The Northern cities that fared the worst seemed to be big steel and auto production centers in particular whereas those that didn't bottom out nearly as hard had more of a diversified manufacturing base and had an easier time transitioning to a more white-collar, professional economy.
Greenville has more white collar jobs than most metros in this country. It is a major engineering job hub in this country and the firms do design work for clients around the country and world..
Given Greenville is more populated and white collar and high growth than most metros, it is interesting two non residents zeroed in on Greenville. Why not a town like Orangeburg.
It is fascinating to me people in larger cities are thinking about Greenville's economy .
The percentage of people working in manufacturing in SC is similar to the percentage in NC and CA. A larger percentage of their state GDP is from manufacturing.
Cities becoming more populated are really becoming less healthy because high population density leads to bigger infectious disease outbreaks and traffic and criminals
The upstate has a ton of manufacturing jobs outside of auto related. Few jobs will go away if taxes, regs and right to work policies are business friendly
The notion Greenville focuses on manufacturing exclusively is odd given it was well publicized Greenville with Spartanburg put a bid in for the Amazon headquarters
Mutiny was aware of that because he made several long posts insisting Greenville never had a shot. There was a lot of time and money put into that pitch.
Last edited by Huckleberry Knob; 11-25-2020 at 10:36 AM..
Greenville has more white collar jobs than most metros in this country. It is a major engineering job hub in this country and the firms do design work for clients around the country and world..
Given Greenville is more populated and white collar and high growth than most metros, it is interesting two non residents zeroed in on Greenville. Why not a town like Orangeburg.
It is fascinating to me people in larger cities are thinking about Greenville's economy.
There are nearly 400 metropolitan areas (MSAs) in this country, with populations ranging from 56K (Carson City, NV) to the 19M+ people living in greater NYC. So comparing Greenville, in any capacity, to "most metros" isn't really saying anything meaningful with such broad parameters in place. That's why I never said anything about the exact number of white-collar jobs in Greenville compared to other metros nationwide.
I'm not sure what you mean about me "zeroing in on Greenville." I'm simply responding to a post about Greenville's economy in a thread in the Greenville/Spartanburg forum.
Why would someone be talking about Orangeburg in a thread about SC's growth in the Greenville/Spartanburg forum???
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The percentage of people working in manufacturing in SC is similar to the percentage in NC and CA. A larger percentage of their state GDP is from manufacturing.
Ok but that's not relevant at all to the point I was making.
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Cities becoming more populated are really becoming less healthy because high population density leads to bigger infectious disease outbreaks and traffic and criminals
As far as infectious disease outbreaks in cities, high density isn't the real culprit; overcrowding is, and it's a bigger issue in expensive big cities with housing shortages.
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The upstate has a ton of manufacturing jobs outside of auto related. Few jobs will go away if taxes, regs and right to work policies are business friendly.
The notion Greenville focuses on manufacturing exclusively is odd given it was well publicized Greenville with Spartanburg put a bid in for the Amazon headquarters
Mutiny was aware of that because he made several long posts insisting Greenville never had a shot. There was a lot of time and money put into that pitch.
Indeed the Upstate does have a lot of jobs outside of the auto sector. Keep in mind that SC had low taxes, minimal regulations, and right-to-work policies when it lost the textile industry due to globalization decades ago.
Nobody said or even implied that Greenville focuses on manufacturing exclusively.
You mentioned San Fran, Raleigh, Charlotte, and several other big cities in your previous post.
Why would someone be talking about those cities in a thread about SC's growth in the Greenville/Spartanburg forum? Orangeburg is at least in state. Given Greenville and the Upstate is the best private sector job market in the state, the Greenville forum is an odd choice for a discussion about a diversified economy. There is an implication that Greenville does not have a diversified economy.
Greenville is more populated and has more employers today despite the low profit margin textile plants moving to other countries. It doesn't make sense to speculate Greenville may lose population in the future given this trend.
The textile industry didn't go away completely. It has shifted to advanced materials like carbon fiber. For example, Solvay which has been producing carbon fiber in Greenville since 1981 and expanded in 2016.
Clemson eliminated its textile science program 10 years ago but its materials engineering and science college has classes on fibers and polymers to reflect the industry trend.
NC State claims over 58 percent of their textile college graduates live in NC which shows how important the industry is in Raleigh and NC.
According to this NC economic development website https://edpnc.com/industries/textiles/, NC has more than 600 textile manufacturers, the most of any state.
Raleigh's and Greenville's textile past has been the springboard to better jobs in advanced materials.
You mentioned San Fran, Raleigh, Charlotte, and several other big cities in your previous post.
Why would someone be talking about those cities in a thread about SC's growth in the Greenville/Spartanburg forum? Orangeburg is at least in state. Given Greenville and the Upstate is the best private sector job market in the state, the Greenville forum is an odd choice for a discussion about a diversified economy. There is an implication that Greenville does not have a diversified economy.
I was responding to the person who implied that Greenville's economy isn't very diversified. I cited examples of cities whose local economies are dominated by one particular sector and have still experienced strong growth over the past two decades or so (minus the 'blip' of the Great Recession), and there are other cities with more diversified economies that have been performing well also. I was simply making a general observation in response to The QC's post.
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Raleigh's and Greenville's textile past has been the springboard to better jobs in advanced materials.
I agree with this. I'd also say that Greenville's textile past has been beneficial when it comes to the engineering and manufacturing jobs it has attracted within the past couple of decades as well.
I stand to be corrected. The Greenville MSA has 6 job sectors with approximately a least 10 percent of the work force. So, at least 60 percent of the non-farm jobs are spread over 6 job sectors. That is pretty diversified. I should have checked before I posted my comments. My mistake, but I will admit when I make a mistake.
Actually there are quite a few cities booming that have one dominant sector, most notably the big tech hubs like SV/SF, Austin, Boston, Raleigh/Durham, etc. Charlotte, Orlando, and Vegas are other examples. But I agree that a diversified economic base is a good thing for sure. The Northern cities that fared the worst seemed to be big steel and auto production centers in particular whereas those that didn't bottom out nearly as hard had more of a diversified manufacturing base and had an easier time transitioning to a more white-collar, professional economy.
The raleigh/Durham/RTP area is diversified quite a bit beyond just tech. They have a significant presence in pharmaceutical manufacturing and research that may actually be larger than their local tech industry.
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