WRALT-TV has a news story out about the success — or often the lack of success of — economic incentives. The key point:
Almost 40 percent of the companies North Carolina officials announced would bring jobs to the state in exchange for taxpayer-funded incentive cash have failed to hire a single worker, according to new data from the Commerce Department.
The annual economic development report was released earlier this month, about a week after state lawmakers voted to extend North Carolina’s largest incentive programs to entice job creation. The data show that, for incentive projects announced from 2009 to 2012, most of the jobs have still failed to materialize.
Despite missed hiring targets, the data also show state officials have paid out only about 16 percent of the more than $367 million in grants they’ve promised to companies in exchange for about 19,000 jobs, and almost a third of the companies have hired 80 percent or more of their job targets.
