(lively music) - [Dara] When you think of Charlotte's economy, financial services like banking immediately come to mind.

For decades, this area has been a hotspot with over a dozen credit unions and banks headquartered here like Bank of America and Wells Fargo's East Coast headquarters.

- We were known as a financial hub.

We still are.

- [Dara] However, financial activities only make up 9% of our region's overall labor force of 1.6 million jobs.

Looking at this pie chart from the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance, you can see the top three sectors with the most jobs are trade, transportation and utilities at 21%, professional and business services at 17% and government at 11%.

Experts say there are some emerging industries that are significantly driving our economic growth due to their investments.

- The first one I wanna highlight is clean energy.

So this is an industry that's growing nationwide.

There's obviously a lot of federal investment into helping to grow this economy, catalyze this industry and we're really seeing it regionally as well.

Hi Rob.

How's it going?

- Great, Anthony, How are you?

- [Dara] Charlotte Regional Business Alliance principal researcher, Anthony Burton keeps a close eye on these strengths.

- On the lithium side, which is a really key ingredient for EV batteries, we've seen it as well.

Albemarle is one of the largest lithium producers in the world.

They're headquartered here in Charlotte - [Dara] Albemarle's 800 acre Kings Mountain production site transforms lithium into items many of us use.

- So your cell phone has a lithium ion battery.

The glass on front in the front of your cell phone actually has lithium because it makes it stronger and more flexible.

- [Dara] The most recent data from environmental entrepreneurs shows that there are 33,692 clean energy jobs in the Charlotte Metro.

Albemarle is already part of that number, but plans to expand even more once they reopen their lithium mine, which is expected to create hundreds of jobs.

- We're looking for those folks that are gonna help us develop the mine here to be able to extract lithium and create that US supply chain.

We're not too far from here in Richburg, South Carolina looking for operators and chemists that are gonna help us convert that raw material into the battery chemistry that we need to make today's batteries.

(upbeat music) - [Dara] Another industry experts say is boosting our economy is advanced manufacturing.

Data from the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance shows that there are over 3,500 manufacturers, 145,000 manufacturing workers, and that 7,500 jobs have been announced since 2020.

- Manufacturing is a really key industry for our region.

For places outside of Charlotte and some of the suburban and rural counties.

It's their largest industry.

- Now that we've seen the effects of clean energy and advanced manufacturing, let's take a look at an additional industry that's fueling the metro.

This one shouldn't come as too much of a surprise, if you take a look behind me, facilities just like these are sprinkled everywhere.

(upbeat music) - [Anthony] Healthcare is really important as well.

A huge employment sector for us as a region.

- [Dara] It's a service we all need.

Burton tells me the healthcare industry provides around 160,000 jobs to the area, which is about 10% of the workforce along with education services.

- Our population is getting older, both, you know, nationally and regionally.

And so obviously, healthcare services are incredibly important as we age.

So I think it's gonna really have an important role in our economy moving forward.

- Nice to meet you, guys.

- Nice to meet you too.

- [Dara] Even though the region has diversified itself beyond being known as just the banking city, we can't ignore the impact banks have had.

- In general, banks help the economy when they lend money.

So for example, you know, you've got a developer or you've got a builder who's building a home so they need financing to build the home.

You've got individuals who then get a mortgage to purchase the home.

You have manufacturing companies, distributors, etc.

who need money to fuel their growth.

- [Dara] In addition to being a resource for the community, financial services provide over 105,000 jobs.

Ted Wolfe, president of Town Bank Charlotte says they've been a part of that number.

- We've more than doubled our employee base.

So with the addition, we now have people in mortgage, people in wealth management, we've got people in insurance.

These are all growth areas for us.

- [Dara] Many people believe our region is at full employment.

- Most people kind of think of full employment, around 4% unemployment.

That's kind of where we are.

So we are at a really kind of tight labor market.

So it's good for workers obviously.

You know, thinking back on previous economic challenging times, unemployment rate was obviously much more elevated.

So it's lower unemployment rate, good for workers and it can be a little difficult for employers - [Dara] Overall, Burton says our economy is relatively strong and we're better equipped to handle swings in the economy.

For Carolina Impact, I'm Dara Khaalid.