Letter to the Editor
According to your July 18 story, Honda announced that it is locating its jet engine headquarters in Burlington and will provide "as many as" 70 jobs paying an average salary of $62,000. Unfortunately, each of those jobs will cost taxpayers a whopping $182,000.
Here's how the numbers break down:
The state is giving Honda $1.7 million in grant money from its Job Development Investment Grants (JDIG) program.
The Airport Authority in Alamance County has taken out a loan for $11 million to make its airport suitable for Honda's needs.
So, taxpayers are handing Honda $12.7 million for 70 jobs, which comes to approximately $182,000 per job. And this doesn't include interest on the $11 million loan.
Now, I'm no expert on economic development, but I'm pretty sure using $182,000 to create one job is not the best way to facilitate a healthy job market in North Carolina. Sounds more like corporate welfare to me.
Rob Thompson
Policy Advocate, N.C. Public Interest Research Group
Raleigh
