Morrisville Town Center Plan - 2007

Appendix 4

Other sectors that saw exceptionally rapid growth during the six-year period were finance & insurance (167%) and arts & entertainment (350%). Albeit starting from a small base, the addition of new arts, entertainment, and recreation establishments is indicative of the rapid growth in a highly-educated, cultured, and relatively affluent population that patronizes such venues. Such growth bodes well for cultural opportunities that might exist in the study area.

Table 3.

BUSINESS ESTABLISHMENT, PAYROLL, AND EMPLOYMENT TRENDS, MORRISVILLE AREA, 1998-2004

1998-2004 Change Number Percent

Industry/Factor

1998

2004

Construction Manufacturing Wholesale Trade Transport/Whse Information Svcs Finance/Insurance Retail Trade

41 34 76 52 42 21 23 55 16 37 6

42 54 90 52 60 36 16 33

1

2.4%

20 14

58.8% 18.4%

-

0.0%

18 15 10 10 97 (5) 27

42.9% 71.4% 166.7% 43.5% 176.4% -31.3% 73.0% 75.0% 40.0% 350.0% 79.3% 58.8%

Real Estate

Prof/Technical Svcs Management Svcs

152

11 64

Admin Services

Education Health Care

4

7

3 6 7

15

21

Arts & Entertainment

2

9

Accommodation Other Services

29 17

52 27

23 10

TOTAL Establishments 470

726

256

54.5%

Employment Payroll (000)

18,624

19,964

1,340

7.2%

$784,213 $ 42,108

$971,473 $ 48,661

$187,260 $ 6,554

23.9% 15.6%

Average Wages

Sources:

U.S. Bureau of the Census and Randall Gross / Development Economics.

Growth in employment has not been as rapid as the expansion of the business base, signaling growth in the number of smaller, start-up businesses. Morrisville-area employment increased by 7.2% during this six-year period. This rate of growth is significantly lower than that of Wake County as a whole, where employment increased by 15.6% over the same period. Employment growth in the Morrisville area represented only 2.9% of Wake County employment growth overall. Nevertheless, it is noteworthy that Morrisville added over 1,300 jobs in a relatively small area outside of the key regional employment nodes. The Morrisville area had about 20,000 jobs total in 2004. Again, it is important to note that these jobs were not concentrated in Morrisville’s traditional town center. Rather,

78 │ Town Center Plan

January 2007