Jewelry insurance group to create 200 jobs at new Raleigh office

Driving the news: The state's Economic Investment Committee approved the incentive package on Tuesday morning.

• Jewelers is expected to invest $5.8 million in the new local office by the end of next year and create the new jobs between 2025 and 2029.

Zoom in: The insurance company hopes to create a technology and data-focused office to build new features for its customer service and insurance products, the state's Commerce Department said. Many of the jobs will be computer engineering or data-related positions.

• The minimum average wage for the project will be nearly $170,000, the Commerce Department said. Wake County's current average salary is around $75,000, according to the state.
• Commerce also said that Jewelers Mutual surveyed 15 cities before narrowing its search down to Dallas and Raleigh.

• Texas offered an incentives deal worth around $3 million, according to Commerce.

Between the lines: The expansion could be welcome news for Raleigh's sluggish office market, as the number of office-based job expansions has slowed in recent months.

• About one-fifth of office space in the Triangle is vacant right now, as the pandemic era's push toward remote work becomes entrenched, Axios previously reported.
• It wasn't immediately known where in Raleigh Jewelers Mutual would place its office.