Fidelity Investments confirmed Wednesday that it will create 2,000 local jobs in three years, in one of the state's biggest economic deals in recent history.

And that might be the least of it.

The ripple effect of winning such a large expansion of one of the world's largest financial companies could reshape the Triangle.

Boosters say there is no better marketing for the region than when a global company picks it from among other options around the world. Fidelity's decision, they say, can pull more employers and more people from out of state.

The company's growth here also will spark housing construction and bring a new level of economic activity to area stores and businesses. There is a flip side, said Michael Walden, an N.C. State University economist. Traffic could worsen, schools get more crowded and services suffer strain.

Whatever the effect, it will extend beyond one company, one city and one pool of workers.

"It's a big deal because it means more dollars in the marketplace, more opportunities," said Harvey Schmitt, president of the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce. "It cements a great deal of momentum."

It also highlights an effort to bolster the region's economy and insulate it from the problems that plagued the area early this decade.

Fidelity, which already has 1,000 employees in the Triangle, will become one of the area's largest private employers.

The company plans next year to start building a new campus on 268 acres in the Wake County portion of Research Triangle Park. It will begin hiring for the new jobs before then and put people in about half a million square feet of leased space in the interim. To qualify for incentives, it must pay an average wage of at least $58,400 a year, plus benefits.

North Carolina's "incomparable quality of life," talented labor force, educational system and infrastructure all lured Fidelity's growth, said Donald A. Haile, senior vice president for the company. He became familiar with the region while working for IBM in RTP.

"I know what a special place this is," he said at a morning news conference, standing beside Gov. Mike Easley.

Even so, winning the expansion wasn't a sure thing. Indeed, the deal took 15 months to come together. During that time, Boston-based Fidelity expanded in other areas and was aggressively courted by Massachusetts officials to keep more jobs in their state.

North Carolina and Wake County leaders offered as much as $69 million in grants and tax relief to sway Fidelity's decision.

But Bob Orr, a former N.C. Supreme Court justice and an outspoken critic of economic development incentives, suspects Fidelity would have expanded in the Triangle even without the incentives. Benefits worth $69 million are "pretty inconsequential" to a company of Fidelity's size, he said.

The state and county money would be better put to use improving the schools and infrastructure that Fidelity's growth will further strain, Orr said.

"There are lots of reasons, it seems to me, to simply shake my head again and say we just shouldn't be doing this," he said.

But developers say the benefits outweigh the costs. Over the next 12 years, the state could gain $93.8 million because of tax revenue generated by Fidelity and businesses helped because of it, according to Department of Commerce projections.

What's more, the state estimates that 772 additional jobs will be created at businesses that serve Fidelity and its employees.

It's still unclear how many of the 2,000 jobs Fidelity plans will be filled by Triangle workers, but it will be a "substantial number," spokeswoman Anne Crowley said. The actual number will depend on which divisions expand or move to RTP. Those decisions will happen over time, she said.

Word of the expansion pleased Lindsay Woodard, who found out about Fidelity's growth while having lunch at Moe's Southwest Grill in Cary on Wednesday. A recent art history graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, she's job-hunting in the Triangle. Fidelity could be a good place to look, she said.

"It's not like it's 2,000 jobs at a plant that could go under," she said. "If it's in banking, you have pretty good job security."

Indeed, Fidelity's expansion illuminates the evolution of both the Triangle and North Carolina economies.

A one-two punch befell the state at the beginning of the decade. Relaxed trade policies accelerated declines in traditional industries such as textiles and furniture. At the same time, the economic slowdown that devastated the technology sector stung the Triangle as businesses laid off workers.

Since then, leaders have worked to diversify and recover from the setbacks. The strategy, in part, has focused on attracting marquee names such as Dell, a computer maker, Novartis, a drug maker, and Credit Suisse, another financial services firm.

Winning such companies makes it easier to attract others, developers say.

But the reasons also run deeper. North Carolina wants to shed its reputation as a manufacturing center and push its economy into service and technology fields with better-paying, and more stable, jobs.

"What you're seeing in North Carolina now is an economy growing based on knowledge, talent and skill," Easley said. "There's security. There's insecurity in low-skilled jobs."