North Carolina is consistently named as one of the best states for business in the entire country.
From businesses to schools to restaurants, the Triangle is an area that finance professionals view as critical toward growth.
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One of those voices touting the area is JP MorganChase Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon. Dimon was in Raleigh on Friday to talk about the state's impact on national and global trends.
"North Carolina is growing in an enormous way," Dimon said in an interview with WRAL News. "The Raleigh region is growing, and a rising tide lifts all boats."
One of the primary reasons for the growth of the region is the skilled labor pipeline that exists. It's a pipeline that generates talent thanks to the Research Triangle and its three anchor universities.
However, the research and educational institutions seen as trademark callings of the area are feeling less confident these days from the tens of millions of dollars they've lost as part of federal budget cuts. A hiring freeze has been announced for the UNC system, which governs 16 public colleges in the state. Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill have also announced plans to cut operational costs in recent weeks. NC State announced a hiring freeze in February. Duke is looking to cut its budget by about $350 million and has already announced layoffs and retirement incentives. UNC is looking to save about $70 million.
But Dimon feels optimistic about the future of that funding, advocating for research and development.
"My own view is they're going to all that research money will be gotten back," Dimon said. "It’s critical for the United States of America. University RnD is critical for almost every industry."
"Particularly basic research. That’s, it’s basic research. It’s harder to put ROI on and invest as a business. If that basic research is there, all of the applications on top of it, that’s where you can invest with confidence."
Business Banking CEO Ben Walter points to other universities already recouping that money. Columbia and Brown universities have reached deals to unfreeze funding. Harvard is on its way.
“If long term, the United States pulls back from its investments in basic RnD, that's a bigger problem for the economy,” Walter said. “But do I think that the universities could weather a blip in the in the curve? Yeah, I think they can.”
A Friday report said hiring in the U.S. is slowing sharply, with the country adding just 73,000 jobs in July, short of the 115,000 jobs that were expected. The stock market had its worst day since May on Friday with the S&P 500 falling 1.6% and the the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 1.2%.
In other moves of consequence to the global economy, Trump signed an order Thursday night imposing steep tariffs on 66 countries, the European Union, Taiwan and the Falkland Islands to go into effect on Aug. 7.