Rest assured – the economy of Henderson County is in great shape and growing!

The Henderson County Partnership for Economic Development held its annual Industrial Executives Forum yesterday, April 3^rd, where the focus was providing an economic outlook, from both a local and global perspective. Nearly 150 local area manufacturers, elected officials, and investors in the Partnership gathered Wednesday morning for the Forum. They began the morning with a networking breakfast, followed by a Partnership update, and then moved on to the economic forecasts.

For the update on Henderson County’s economy, speaker Tom Tveidt, of Syneva Economics, presented data on local economic conditions. Tom is a research economist and President, Founder of SYNEVA Economics, LLC. His expertise is local, community-level economic assessment and evaluation. Tom was commissioned by the Henderson County Board of Commissioners in 2015 to conduct an in-depth analysis of Henderson County’s economy, which has significantly helped to inform the efforts and priorities of the Partnership.

Here are a few of the highlights from his presentation:

• Population growth remains strong & consistent – Henderson County is outpacing the nation & state, in-migration is the sole source of net growth, and net gains are from ages 20-64
• Employment growth has outpaced the nation and state over the last two years – most gains are from locally specialized industries and over half of the gains are from industries with above average wages
• New business registrations are up +18% annually

Tom’s full presentation can be accessed here: Henderson County Economic Outlook – SYNEVA Economics.

Dr. James Smith, with Parsec Financial Management, then took the stage to speak from a global perspective. Dr. Smith has over 30 years of experience as an economic forecaster. As Chief Economist at Parsec Financial, he provides information on the economic outlook to the firm’s partners and clients. He brings extensive knowledge from working in various sectors of the economy.

Here are a few of the highlights from his presentation:

• Economic activity is stronger than it’s ever been – the world’s economic activity in the past 25 years eclipses all economic activity of human history prior
• Everyone with money wants to invest in the U.S.
• All-time records are being made for total employment in non-farm payroll jobs – in a report to be released this Friday, Dr. Smith feels confident that this will mark the 101^st consecutive month where this holds true

The Forum was made possible thanks to our Patron Sponsors:  Blue Ridge Community College, Carolina Specialties Construction, Continental, Current, Powered by GE, Cooper Construction Co., Dominion Energy, Duke Energy, Ferncliff Park, First Bank, First Citizens Bank, Friday Staffing, Lassonde Pappas, Morrow Insurance Agency, Morris Broadband, Pardee Hospital, SMARTRAC Technology Group-Fletcher & The Van Winkle Law Firm, UPM Raflatac. Additional support provided by AT&T.

Residents of Henderson County are fortunate to live in a beautiful place with such a thriving economy. The Partnership wants to continue to see growth and focus on helping in any way possible. Efforts would not be possible without the support of our local industry partners, local government partners, and the many investors in our organization.