According to a list of the largest employers in every county in Alabama published last week in Al.Com the Bibb County School System leads Bibb County with a total of 422 employees.
Education is an employment leader in many counties including nearby Shelby with 2,491 employees and Perry with 209 education employees. The largest employer in Tuscaloosa County is the University of Alabama with 11,988 employees and in Lee County it is Auburn University with 5,500 employees. The largest employer in Jefferson County is the UAB complex with 23,000 employees.
MollerTech USA, a new manufacturing facility that began production in Bibb County in October 2018, reported to The Bibb Voice they presently have 160 employees and are adding 90 jobs in 2019.
Under construction at the Scott Davis Industrial Park in North Bibb County is the Global Logistic Center and Battery Plant for the expansion of the Mercedes-Benz USA manufacturing complex. This expansion into Bibb County is expected to produce at least 600 jobs for Bibb County alone and could take the title as Bibb County’s largest employer soon.
Bibb County is one of the only small rural counties in the State with a thriving medical industry, including a hospital with emergency and obstetric services, medical clinics with a family physician training program, and a retirement community complex.
The healthcare complex that is expanding in our community is not a single employer. Bibb Medical Center reported 340 employees in 2018 and an annual payroll impact of $10.5 Million for Bibb County workers according to CEO Joseph Marchant.
Cahaba Medical Care reports 185 jobs in the community with a payroll impact in excess of $7.5 Million according to CFO Carl Kennedy. Cahaba Medical is also operating clinics in Chilton and Jefferson counties so their impact is not included in the numbers reported here.
Independently or privately owned medical, dental, chiropractic, rehabilitation, and home health care businesses are part of the health care industry in Bibb County but are not counted in the total employees reported in this article although they are an important part of our economy.
Taken together, Bibb Medical Center and Cahaba Medical Care have at least 525 employees creating a professional service industry in our county and community that provides an important service for residents of all ages and across a broad spectrum of our society.
Bibb County citizens have a right to be proud of the medical center complex that we have here in our county. While many small and rural counties have no health care services at all, Bibb County has progressive leadership in healthcare and trained professionals to provide services.
Bibb County is growing. We have traditionally been a county populated with micro industries and the trend to manufacturing in the North end of our county along with huge changes in the way health care is delivered in our country is having an impact on employment trends. We are looking forward to a successful and prosperous 2019 in Bibb County for all of the employers here, large and small, because small enterprise will always be the backbone of rural communities.
Hats off to all of you who make Bibb County a great place to live.
