The Rock Hill region lost the most jobs since COVID. What’s driving the change?
Rock Hill region companies confirmed to the state more layoffs last year than they have in any year since the COVID pandemic began in 2020.
Large companies cutting positions typically have to file a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN notification, with the state Commerce Department. Those reports don’t cover all job losses in the area, but show the largest ones.
There were five WARN notices in 2024 combining to lay off 475 workers across York, Lancaster and Chester counties. The Rock Hill region had 950 job losses in WARN reports in 2020, not counting companies that listed job cuts “statewide” rather than by specific location.
Other than in 2020, there only have been three years since 2013 with more job cuts than there were last year. The most recent was 2018, when there were 504 layoffs.
Mitch Miller, interim director of the York County Economic Development, cautions against reading too much into the increase in York County WARN notices last year.
“The majority of these job losses stemmed from two large employers — Stanley Black & Decker and McKesson Medical-Surgical — making significant organizational changes,” Miller said. “These decisions, while impactful, do not point to a broader economic trend.”
New jobs in the Rock Hill region
While layoffs increased in 2024, new job announcements didn’t. In fact, the region saw historically low numbers for new job announcements.
The South Carolina Department of Commerce and I-77 Alliance routinely announce when large companies agree to expand or relocate to York, Lancaster or Chester counties. They don’t disclose every new job, but they do cover the biggest employment additions in the area.
The 41 new jobs announced by the I-77 Alliance last year is the smallest number in the decade of that organization’s records.
Even the 30 more jobs announced by the state Commerce Department that were left out of the I-77 Alliance figures don’t change much. The lowest annual total for the I-77 Alliance before last year was 460 new jobs in 2019.
Promised jobs that haven’t appeared
Not every job announced by the state or economic development groups leads to a hired worker.
A prime example came last year, with a massive Rock Hill project. New York silicone carbide manufacturer Pallidus announced $443 million plans in 2023 to bring 405 jobs to the city.
But in October, city and county officials confirmed Pallidus wasn’t coming. The company didn’t appear in a WARN report since it wasn’t in business yet when the company pulled the plug.
Sometimes, job creation can take longer than companies initially project. That involves an even bigger announcement from 2023 that remains tied up in litigation.
Silfab Solar promised 800 jobs and an investment of $150 million in Fort Mill. York County residents sued, claiming the company shouldn’t be able to manufacture solar panels in a light industrial area on Logistics Lane.
York County’s business climate
Miller remains optimistic about York County’s business climate.
He points to its location near Charlotte within a growing region, skilled workforce and ability to attract a variety of businesses as reasons to expect “a better consumer climate and stable economy to come.” There’s also York County’s third-highest average weekly wage in the Charlotte metro area ($1,218 per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) and the Fed’s lowering of interest rates to consider, he said.
“York County remains on solid economic footing,” Miller said.
Here’s a look at five layoff or expansion actions for the region from last year and how they’ll potentially change the area job scene:
Stanley Black & Decker
In March, Stanley Black & Decker announced it would close its Carolina’s Manufacturing Operations facility at 4260 Pleasant Road in Fort Mill and eliminate 192 jobs. Of those jobs, 105 workers were listed as product assemblers in the WARN notice.
The first wave of 158 workers losing jobs began May 10. Smaller phases of job cuts followed in July and September. The final dozen jobs at the site followed from mid-September through the plant closing at the end of the year, according to the company’s plan.
Stanley Black & Decker allowed for some worker transfers to other areas, but didn’t give bumping rights — where laid-off senior employees displace junior ones elsewhere — for salaried or non-union hourly workers at the Fort Mill site.
Princeton NuEnergy
In June, clean technology and recycling company Princeton NuEnergy announced it would take over the 25,000-square-foot former ShayoNano facility at 564 Ecology Lane in Chester. An investment of $11 million would add 41 jobs.
The lithium-ion battery recycling operation would be up and running by the fall, according to Princeton NuEnergy. The company recycles batteries from electric vehicles, consumer electronics, energy storage batteries and manufacturing scrap.
Novant Health
Novant Health submitted a WARN report in late June for layoffs at its 6237 Carolina Commons Drive site in Indian Land. That decision would cost 90 workers their jobs within two months. The Lancaster County site was part of 171 layoffs across the Carolinas announced by the company, according to The Charlotte Observer.
Software engineers, developers and analysts lost jobs as part of a transition to a new IT model that outsourced some positions, the Observer reported. Employees received 60-day notices of the layoffs, the company stated in its WARN notice.
McKesson Medical-Surgical
Rock Hill medical company McKesson Medical-Surgical filed a WARN report in September indicating it would cut 13 jobs at 885 Paragon Way by mid-November. Then in December, the company filed again. The company would permanently close its distribution center and warehouse, it wrote in that WARN notice.
That closing impacted another 179 warehouse workers, with layoffs starting in early March 2025. There were no bumping rights, and no workers were represented by unions. Workers were made aware of other opportunities in the larger McKesson company, along with transition benefits including severance.
LCI-Lineberger Construction
LCI-Lineberger Construction announced a $10 million investment in October that will create 30 jobs in Lancaster County. The road construction and site development company founded in 1995 works throughout the Carolinas, according to the state commerce department announcement.
The Lancaster company employed more than 100 workers prior to the summer announcement.
The expansion will build a new asphalt plant next to the existing facility at 1490 Kershaw Camden Highway. Company paving projects include work for the state and municipalities, along with other contractors. Planned opening for the expansion is this January.
