Bank of America began Charlotte layoffs this week. No one knows whether they will fire 1,000, 3,000 or 5,000. But the number is likely to be large to reach the goal of 30,000 employees laid off across the bank set earlier this year.  Plus many of the employees in the bank’s most targeted divisions for layoffs are located here. While the bank overall has 290,000 employees, just 15,000 of them work out Charlotte, the bank’s alleged headquarters city.

Exiting the bank.

Each whack of the layoff ax at the bank’s remaining workforce here does three things. First, it erodes what little claim Charlotte has left to be the bank’s headquarters city. That’s Charlotte’s most valuable calling card, earning us valuable mentions on almost a daily basis in financial news reports, and most importantly, keeping us nationally relevant. The bank’s physical and real estate footprint is being shrunk toward the inevitable day that it pulls out completely, which would help give investors confidence that the bank isn’t wasting time and resouces on an unnecessary “satellite headquarters.”

It also reduces the bank’s need for real estate, particularly uptown real estate, weakening Charlotte’s core.

But the most important thing it does is eliminate the region’s high paying jobs. One local person in the know described it this way:

Most of these jobs are white collar job that easily pay 2x more than the average in Charlotte.
The average tech salary is about $80,000 these days.

So even if the local layoffs (out of 30,000) are only about 5,000 in pure headcount, those were some of the the best paying jobs in the region.

I have one friend who called me and let me know she was laid off. She was asking if my company has any openings.
She was making $100,000+ as a database administrator at BofA.

I think the story here is not the raw numbers. It is far worse than the raw numbers.
These are the jobs that create disposable income and feeds many other companies in the area.

Bingo.