(This article first appeared in the July print edition of the Hendersonian)
Henderson County reached a milestone in 2023: Workers here earned more than $1 billion in wages and salaries in a single year for the first time ever.
“That’s something for our whole community to be proud of,” Missy Vanderpool, executive director of Henderson Economic Development, said.
“It’s an exciting thing to hear,” Henderson County Judge/Executive Brad Schneider said.
The total payroll among employers across the county exceeded $1 billion by almost $4.5 million. That was up almost $80 million from the $924.5 million in total wages paid in 2022.
That also represents a doubling of total wages in Henderson County since 1996.
The figures were released recently by the state’s Kentucky Center for Statistics and are based on the Quarterly Census of Employment & Wages (QCEW), a census conducted every three months that covers all employers subject to unemployment insurance tax.
The startup last year of the $500-milllion-plus Pratt Paper corrugated container recycling mill and adjacent corrugated box factory undoubtedly helped push Henderson County over the billion-dollar payroll mark.
The Pratt complex today employs 280 people at wages reportedly averaging $30 per hour, according to forecasts when Pratt in 2021 announced it would locate here.
Indeed, manufacturing continues to be the engine of the Henderson County economy, accounting for one in four jobs and more than one-third of all wages.
As of the fourth quarter of 2023 (the most recent quarter available), manufacturing employed an average of 5,102 people in Henderson County. That’s up from the most recent low of 4,400 in the second quarter of 2022, or a net gain of more than 700 manufacturing jobs in 1½ years
“I know we sometimes get laser-focused on manufacturing” because of the vast wealth — $342.7 million last year alone — that it brings into the community, Vanderpool said.
By recruiting new manufacturers and helping existing factories to expand, “We’re helping provide jobs with healthy wages, living wages,” Vanderpool said. “To support other jobs in the community (through local spending by manufacturing employees) is really exciting.”
Total employment in Henderson County was reported at 19,297 as of late 2023, up almost 1,700 jobs from early 2021 near the tail end of the Covid pandemic.
Seeing the local annual payroll top $1 billion “solidifies that the work we’re doing is what the community needs,” including through workforce development to help bolster local skills to meet the needs of industries, she said.
Vanderpool also lauded the community cooperation and collaboration that has taken hold in recent years and yielded a series of economic development announcements, including the development of Alliance Coal LLC’s $35 million Riverview Coal Henderson Portal 1 near Dixie, which is expected to begin operations in early 2025 and employ 260 people at wages averaging $34.50 per hour ($49 including benefits).
“That’s really been the difference these last four years — we have opened the walls up to partners” such as electric, natural gas and water utilities as well as city and county officials,” Vanderpool said. “It really makes the difference” to have so many key partners working well together.
Schneider, himself a former economic development executive here, agreed.
“That’s a team effort, a lot of people pulling the wagon,” Schneider said of recent economic development success stories. “It’s gratifying to people elected to office to be making everything better, and by ‘better’ I mean for average people.
“In that ($1 billion) figure are a lot of people who got good jobs in the last few years,” he said. “To me there is no social program out there better than a good job.”
While manufacturing is the biggest single source of payroll, it certainly isn’t alone. Here are the top seven employer sectors and their 2023 payrolls:
1. Manufacturing: $342.7 million
2. Health care and social assistance $117.3 million
3. All government: $113.2 million
4. Construction: $75.4 million
5. Wholesale trade: $69.7 million
6. Retail trade: $62.8 million
7. Finance and insurance: $47.1 million
One sector is certain to see a dramatic increase next year. In 2023, the payroll in mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction totaled less than $2.1 million since there are no active coal mines in Henderson County at the moment and the crude oil industry is so diminished compared with its boom years here from the late 1930s through the late 1980s. Once Riverview Coal’s Henderson Portal 1 ramps up next year, that sector’s payroll will soar.
Meanwhile, the $1 billion payroll figure doesn’t include all sources of local job-related income. For example, it excludes wages and salaries for self-employed people and jobs not covered by unemployment insurance, such as employment at religious organizations, student workers and agricultural employment, according to Jessica Fletcher, marketing analytics director for the Kentucky Center for Statistics.
Also, some income isn’t included in the total for employer privacy reasons. For example, wages in the utilities sector in Henderson County has been excluded, which she said is done when there is a small number of business establishments in a particular sector.
The Kentucky Center for Statistics (KYSTATS) collects and links data to evaluate education and workforce efforts in the Commonwealth. This includes developing reports, responding to research requests, and providing statistical data about these efforts so policymakers, practitioners, and the general public can make better informed decisions.
