Charlotte businesses announced plans last year to create 12,025 jobs, a strong indicator that the local economy is starting to regain momentum.

"That surprised me," said Charlotte Chamber research vice president Tony Crumbley, who compiled the statistics for his year-end report on business expansion in Mecklenburg County.

Crumbley had predicted about 10,000 new job announcements. The year-end total is up 26 percent over 2001's 9,548 but substantially below the record 19,758 set in 1999.

"We can't say we have recovered, but we are recovering," Crumbley said. "This report shows people are investing money in expansion and creating jobs in Charlotte."

Businesses expected to invest slightly more than $2 billion in projects announced in 2002, the most since the chamber reported a record $2.2 billion in 1998.

The chamber doesn't track job losses, but over the years its report on investment and hiring plans has been a reliable indicator of future growth.

In the 2002 report, for example, Crumbley lists Johnson & Wales University's plan to open an $82 million Charlotte campus in 2004 and team owner Robert Johnson's $300 million investment in a new NBA franchise.

The chamber's numbers appear consistent with Wachovia Corp. senior economist Mark Vitner's projection of 14,000 additional jobs for Charlotte in 2002.

"We have seen steady improvement across Charlotte," Vitner said. "From what I have seen, it's fairly widespread -- in distribution, business services, finance and some manufacturing."

Crumbley said he's encouraged that manufacturers are picking up the expansion pace. He counted 1,007 manufacturing job announcements and $107.2 million in manufacturing investment compared with 548 jobs and $26.6 million announced in manufacturing 2001.

Charlotte reported its first new manufacturing job of 2002 the second week of February, breaking a drought that extended back to the second quarter of 2001.

The year-end manufacturing numbers are the best the county has seen in 10 years, Crumbley said.

Outside Mecklenburg, where most of the region's manufacturing and textile layoffs have occurred, conditions are more difficult to assess.

The Mecklenburg unemployment rate has remained stable at 5.6 percent since September, but in the Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill metropolitan area it rose to 5.9 percent in November from 5.7 percent in October.

"The improvement is largely in Mecklenburg, although we are seeing some gains in Cabarrus County and also in Iredell County," Vitner said.

Nationwide, employers eliminated 101,000 jobs in December -- the most in 10 months -- as retailers and manufacturers cut back, the Labor Department reported.

State-by-state December statistics weren't available, but in November, North Carolina lost 8,500 jobs and South Carolina lost 1,100.

The interest level in the Charlotte area among prospective employers indicates expansion momentum will carry over into this year, Crumbley said.

A key will be the recovery of Charlotte's commercial real estate development and leasing industry, which is still coping with rising vacancies and oversupply.

Unless something disastrous happens in the economy, some local experts believe, real estate activity could pick up by midyear.