Today, Governor Josh Stein joined business leaders and elected officials at the groundbreaking ceremony for Johnson & Johnson’s new facility in Wilson. Governor Stein highlighted the facility’s importance to North Carolina’s economy and presented Johnson & Johnson with an official state flag to fly over the facility.  

“Biotechnology is one of our state’s largest and fastest growing economic sectors,” said Governor Josh Stein. “North Carolina has a strong infrastructure to support the life science industry, and I am pleased that Johnson & Johnson chose Wilson as the site of its new facility. I look forward to partnering with the Johnson & Johnson team to expand economic opportunity and high-quality jobs to every corner of our state.”

“We are pleased to make this significant investment in our manufacturing network in the United States. This state-of-the-art biologics facility in North Carolina will help Johnson & Johnson to accelerate the delivery of our portfolio and pipeline of transformational medicines for patients,” said Jennifer Taubert, Executive Vice President, Worldwide Chairman, Innovative Medicine, Johnson & Johnson. “This $2 billion investment will bring more than 5,000 high-wage manufacturing and construction jobs to North Carolina and the partnerships we are forging in the community will support local educational initiatives to develop the workforce of the future.”

Governor Stein is committed to fostering innovation, keeping North Carolina’s status as a top state for business, and bringing good-paying jobs to the state. North Carolina is home to more than 830 life science companies, with more than 225,000 jobs involved in the economic sector. Johnson & Johnson’s new facility will create 420 jobs, with the average salary being more than double the Wilson County average. In Stein’s first months as Governor, North Carolina has gained more than 1,500 new jobs, most of which are in rural North Carolina.