State officials have announced $2.6 billion in investments expected to create more than 5,200 jobs in the first five months of this year. But in a changing economy, other businesses are closing.
According to the N.C. Department of Commerce, 27 businesses announced layoffs, resulting in the loss of 2,678 jobs in the first five months of this year. Only four of the layoffs topped 300 workers.
The following list shows the layoffs of at least 90 workers since June 1, 2024. It is topped by two of the largest employers in the nation, Walmart and FedEx. Walmart laid off 356 workers in two layoffs as it closed a regional office in Charlotte. Some of those workers were offered jobs at other Walmart locations, including its headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas.
A federal law, the Worker Adjustment Retraining Notice (WARN), requires companies to report plans to close a plant that affects at least 50 employees or conduct a mass layoff of at least 500 employees, or a layoff impacting between 50-499 employees when that number represents at least one-third of the employer’s workforce.
Overall, North Carolina had slightly more than 5.1 million employed workers in April, a decrease of 10,602 from the year before. The number of unemployed at the end of April was 180,760, an increase of 14,194 from the year before. However, the unemployment rate has remained less than 4% since December 2021, ending April at 3.4%.
Memphis-based logistics company Federal Express closed a site in Durham and reduced staff in Raleigh. FedEx also announced in September 2024 it would close an office in Concord, resulting in the loss of 69 jobs. FedEx has slashed jobs across the country. The company employed 506,897 full- and part-time workers in 2024, down more than 58,000 from the previous year.
Another package delivery company, UPS, laid off 99 people in Charlotte after laying off 490 workers last year in the cities of Charlotte, Greensboro and Raleigh. ■