Q3 marked significant progress across the NC Leads agenda, with new research informing North Carolina’s competitiveness strategy, employer-led workforce initiatives moving into implementation, and Foundation priorities translating into policy action.

Q3 Highlights:

• Released the North Carolina Tax Competitiveness Study
• Completed the life sciences Skills-First Workforce Pilot, with employer-defined skills integrating into community college curriculum
• Advanced Careers Electric™ from grant award to regional implementation
• Advanced childcare solutions, with key Foundation recommendations adopted in the state budget
• Expanded the Foundation’s research on supply chain and North Carolina’s sports economy

Here’s a look at the progress NC Leads investor support made possible in Q3:

Competitive Business Climate

North Carolina Tax Competitiveness Study

In August, the Foundation released comprehensive new research examining North Carolina’s business tax structure and competitiveness. Key findings include:

• North Carolina’s total effective business tax rate is 3.2% of gross state product, compared with 4.5% nationally, the lowest nationally.
• Tax collections have continued to grow even as rates have come down.
• The state’s franchise tax is the most significant opportunity to further strengthen North Carolina’s competitive position.

Beyond the Research: The Foundation convened business and policy leaders for a webinar to explore the findings and implications for North Carolina’s long-term tax strategy.

Workforce and Talent Supply

Skills-First Workforce Pilot: From Employer Input to Curriculum

The Foundation completed the life sciences manufacturing Skills-First Workforce Pilot with the Burning Glass Institute, NCBiotech, and NC Community College System, defining and validating priority skills for pharmaceutical manufacturing occupations.

• More than two dozen pharmaceutical manufacturers participated.
• 100% of employers responding to a follow-up survey recommended other employers participate in the process and noted results are accurate.
• Updates to NC BioWork and community college curriculum are underway to align programs to employer-defined skills.

The work demonstrates a scalable model for translating employer demand directly into education and training.

Careers Electric™: Moving into Regional Implementation

The Foundation is moving Careers Electric™ from grant award into regional implementation to expand K–12 pathways into high-demand electrical careers. Regional areas of focus for implementation include:

• Rowan and Cabarrus Counties
• Winston-Salem/Forsyth County
• Greater Wilmington

Across these regions, the Foundation is building connections among employers, K–12 schools, community colleges, and workforce partners to better align career pathways with employer demand.

What’s Next: This fall and winter, partners will develop regional workforce development strategies with employers and educators and deploy middle school and high school career awareness and work-based learning activities.

Research into Action: Advancing Childcare Solutions

The state budget adopted recommendations from the Foundation’s 2025 Addressing North Carolina’s Childcare Crisis report—a meaningful step toward strengthening childcare access so more parents can enter and remain in the workforce.

The budget establishes a statewide floor for childcare subsidy reimbursement rates to help stabilize providers, particularly in rural communities. Other provisions support the childcare workforce and provider stability through new training and credentialing pathways, workforce regulatory reforms, and a study of potential liability insurance solutions.

For Foundation investors, this progress demonstrates how Foundation research is informing policy action on an issue that directly affects working families, employers, and North Carolina’s competitiveness.

Go Deeper: NC Chamber Foundation Research Turns into Real Results for Working Families

Leadership & Recognition: Rural Health

Foundation Sr. Director of Workforce Competitiveness Vincent Ginski was appointed to the North Carolina Rural Health Transformation Program Advisory Committee, which will advise NCDHHS on the strategy and approach for a five-year program to deploy $1 billion in federal funding across multiple priorities, including healthcare workforce development.

The appointment reflects the Foundation’s growing role in shaping health workforce strategy and brings an employer perspective to rural healthcare access, implementation, sustainability, and talent pipeline challenges.

Infrastructure and Growth

Supply Chain Research Series: Maritime

The Foundation released the latest installment of its Supply Chain Research Series, examining North Carolina’s maritime assets beyond its ports and their role in the state’s broader supply chain ecosystem.

The research highlights how these assets support key industries and identifies targeted investment opportunities in workforce, industrial site infrastructure, cold chain capacity, maintenance, permitting, and capital to strengthen North Carolina’s maritime ecosystem.

Beyond the Research: The work builds on the broader Supply Chain Research Series launched in Q2 and has generated industry engagement, including participation in UNC Wilmington’s Ocean Innovation Conference and national industry media coverage.

North Carolina Sports Economy Report

Foundation research released in September examines North Carolina’s sports economy as a competitive asset, connecting professional and college athletics, motorsports, golf, outdoor recreation, participant sports, and major events to infrastructure, tourism, workforce, economic development, and quality of place.

The research highlights the scale and diversity of sports-related economic activity across the state, including:

• $3.82 billion in economic output from motorsports, supporting approximately 20,000 jobs.
• $2.3 billion in direct spending generated by golf.
• $17.7 billion in value added by outdoor recreation.

The analysis demonstrates how North Carolina’s diverse sports assets reinforce one another and create economic activity in communities and regions statewide.

What’s Next: The Foundation will continue expanding its research into the infrastructure and supply chain assets that support North Carolina’s long-term competitiveness.

• Research on infrastructure funding and broader supply chain competitiveness will be released in Q4.

NC State University Supply Chain Research Cooperative student research projects are underway, focused on supply chain competitiveness and temperature-controlled cargo.

Agriculture Leadership

NC Ag Leads continues turning priorities identified through its strategic planning process into action, advancing employer-led strategies that strengthen North Carolina’s agricultural workforce and long-term competitiveness.

• The Agricultural Workforce Intelligence Pilot is moving forward in Sampson, Duplin, and Wayne counties, gathering employer-led data to identify workforce needs and better align education and training with the skills agricultural employers need.
• GroundTruth NC research is underway with American Farmland Trust analyzing farmland loss, its impacts on North Carolina’s agricultural supply chains and economy, and policy opportunities to support long-term agricultural competitiveness.

Coming Soon: NC Ag Leads will launch the Farmer Innovation Bridge in early October, connecting North Carolina farmers with innovators, technologies, and value-added opportunities that can strengthen farm profitability and resilience.

Bottom Line

The NC Chamber Foundation is advancing practical, employer-led solutions that strengthen North Carolina’s long-term competitiveness. Thank you, NC Leads investors, for your continued partnership and investment in this work.

If you would like to become more involved, please reach out to Meredith Archie.