Was Charlotte just not educated enough for Amazon?

Charlotte’s lack of higher education caused the city to lose out on Amazon’s new headquarters, Charlotte Chamber of Commerce CEO Bob Morgan told lawmakers Thursday.

Charlotte didn’t make the cut when Amazon selected 20 cities as finalists in January. The Triangle was the only North Carolina community on the finalist list. While UNC-Charlotte is the only large university around the Queen City, the Triangle is home to UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke, N.C. State and N.C. Central.

“We do not have the level of higher education in the Charlotte market that you see in the Triangle” and other competitors like Atlanta and St. Louis, Morgan said. But Amazon did like that Charlotte’s technology workforce is “growing faster” than other cities, but other communities have a larger number of tech workers, he added. Morgan said Amazon was also impressed with his city’s large airport and light rail system.

With Charlotte out of the running, Morgan said his organization supports the Triangle’s efforts to land Amazon.

This story was originally published April 5, 2018 at 9:46 PM with the headline "Was Charlotte just not educated enough for Amazon?."