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Local companies have created more than 11,500 jobs in Mecklenburg County this year, a new Charlotte Chamber report shows.
The report didn't include information on the significant job losses so far this year. Instead, the report focused on job creation in the first nine months of 2009. The quarterly report, released Monday, said 781 new and expanding companies announced 11,527 jobs, up 20 percent over the same period last year.
Overall, however, the number of people with jobs in Mecklenburg County fell by 3,500 from January through August, according to the most recent data available from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. September figures will be released Friday.
Year over year, employment is down more than 29,700 in the county, to 408,131.
Continuing a trend from previous reports, the firms' monetary investment and square footage were also down sharply. The new and expanding businesses invested $784.7 million this year - down 55 percent from the same period in 2008. Those firms expanded into 9.3 million square feet of space, down from 21.1 million last year.
Chamber officials blame the drop on the "considerable decrease in commercial spec building, due to the unavailability of funding and reduced demand," the report said.
Still, the fact that firms continue to bring jobs to Charlotte - with the strongest growth in the finance sector - shows the local economy is turning around, the report said. Economists have declared the recession over nationally, but some say the Charlotte region could take longer to return to normal, with a few more months of high unemployment and tight hiring.
Chamber officials said they're hopeful that recent announcements of new businesses will drive the number of new jobs up - and continue to chip away at this year's job losses - in the near future.
The chamber's statistics come from newspaper announcements, news releases, building permits, business licenses, chamber memberships and chamber prospects.
