Want a Job? Ask a Billionaire

March 29, 2009— -- For 30 years Gloria Jean Craven was an employee of Pillowtex, the nation's third-largest home textile manufacturer. When the plant abruptly filed for bankruptcy protection and closed its doors in 2003, she and more than 8,000 workers lost their jobs, plunging the blue-collar community of Kannapolis, N.C., into a state of economic flux that lingers nearly six years later.

"I used to think I was middle class. But now we are living at the poverty level," the 56-year-old mother of two said in a speech at the Democratic National Convention last summer.

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One billionaire is hoping to help revive Craven's community and create thousands of jobs along the way. Three years ago, David Murdock, who made a fortune in Dole produce and Hawaiian real estate, broke ground on a new $1.5 billion (total investment) biotechnology research center on the old Pillowtex mill site.

The North Carolina Research Campus is partnering with Rowan Cabarrus Community College's R3 Center, a training ground for local displaced and underemployed workers. This August, the college will introduce two associate degree programs in biotechnology, aimed at targeting the needs of NCRC. Right now the campus is advertising for lab assistants, researchers and plant managers at David H. Murdock Research Institute and NCRC-affiliated state universities. Analysts project NCRC will create 30,000 direct and indirect new jobs by 2027.

Over the years, billionaires like Murdock have been responsible for creating thousands of jobs. They started some of the country's biggest employers, including companies like Wal-Mart, Microsoft and Dell, to name a few. In 2002, Home Depot--founded by billionaires Bernard Marcus and Arthur Blank--partnered with the U.S. Department of Labor to hire 40,000 associates a year. In 2006, Microsoft added 10,081 worldwide hires, the most in its history.

This year, these businesses, like the moguls who founded them, are feeling the economic pinch: In January, Microsoft announced an 18-month plan to eliminate 5,000 jobs across its research and development, marketing, sales, finance, legal, human resources and information technology departments. Home Depot slashed 7,000 positions. While the Walton family's Wal-Mart just announced it was giving a reported $2 billion to its hourly employees, the nation's largest retailer said in February that it was laying off 700 employees at its Bentonville, Ark., headquarters and another 1,200 Canadian employees.