Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will create 290 new jobs in Pitt County, North Carolina.
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The company will invest $154 million to expand its pharmaceutical manufacturing operations in Greenville.
The Greenville facility is a multi-purpose pharmaceutical manufacturing and packaging campus spanning more than one million square feet. This expansion will increase the manufacturing capacity for sterile liquid and lyophilized filling, pre-filled syringes, and solid dose continuous manufacturing.
The North Carolina Department of Commerce led the state’s efforts to support Thermo Fisher’s decision to expand in North Carolina. Average annual salaries are anticipated to be approximately 50 percent higher than Pitt County’s overall average annual wage of $42,801. The new positions are anticipated to bring $19.2 million of annual payroll growth to the region.
This expansion by Thermo Fisher will be facilitated, in part, by a Job Development Investment Grant (JDIG) approved by the state’s Economic Investment Committee. Over the course of the 12-year term of the grant, economists in the Department of Commerce estimate the project will grow the state’s economy by more than $977 million.
The JDIG agreement authorizes the potential reimbursement to the company of up to $4,528,800 spread over 12 years. Payments for all JDIGs only occur following performance verification by the departments of Commerce and Revenue that the company has met its incremental job creation and investment targets.
JDIG projects result in positive net tax revenue to the state treasury, even after taking into consideration the grant’s reimbursement payments to a given company.
Because Thermo Fisher is expanding in Pitt County, classified by the state’s economic tier system as Tier 2, the company’s JDIG agreement also calls for moving as much as $503,200 into the state’s Industrial Development Fund – Utility Account.
The Utility Account helps rural communities finance necessary infrastructure upgrades to attract future business. Even when new jobs are created in a Tier 2 county such as Pitt, the new tax revenue generated through JDIG grants helps more economically challenged communities elsewhere in the state. ■