One of the world's largest medical-testing companies is expanding its North Carolina operations and creating 346 jobs in the Triad.
Burlington-based LabCorp is consolidating its billing operations in Greensboro and closing 24 centers across the country. The company is cutting costs as the recession has weakened demand for its medical, drug and genetic testing.
Company officials considered Danville, Va., for the expansion, but chose Greensboro after receiving the promise of up to nearly $1 million in tax breaks and other incentives from the state, Guilford County and Greensboro.
The company will create 346 jobs and transfer 50 to Greensboro from a Burlington billing operation. The new jobs will pay average annual wages of $26,027. That's less than the Guilford County average of $38,116, according to state data.
"We try very hard to get as close to the average county wage as possible, but given the difficult economic circumstances, this is a large number of jobs in a sustainable industry," said Katharine Neal, a spokeswoman with the N.C. Commerce Department.
The county actually reduced the amount of incentives it offered because of the lower wages, said Dan Lynch, president of the Greensboro Economic Development Alliance.
"If this project had come along 24 months ago, we probably wouldn't have gone looking for incentives at all," Lynch said. "There are a lot of people in these communities where having a job with full benefits is a good thing."
LabCorp employs about 28,000 worldwide, and is one of the few medical corporations in this state not headquartered in the Triangle.
But LabCorp is still a major Triangle employer, with more than 1,000 local workers.Many of them perform and develop sophisticated genetic tests in Research Triangle Park. CEO Dave King lives in Chapel Hill and commutes to Burlington.
Guilford County commissioners and Greensboro officials last fall approved giving the company more than $620,000 in tax incentives to attract the jobs. The state on Thursday promised $275,000 more in a grant from the One North Carolina Fund, ifLabCorp meets its hiring and wage goals.
