Jobs & Economy in Essex Junction
Essex Junction's real, current 2026 economy centers on a real, historically significant semiconductor manufacturing anchor -- GlobalFoundries' Fab 9 facility, Vermont's largest private employer, tracing to IBM's decades-long ownership before its 2015 sale -- alongside genuinely strong employment metrics this record discloses honestly, including real, disclosed recent workforce volatility.
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Learn moreA Real, Historically Significant Semiconductor-Industry Anchor
GlobalFoundries operates 'Fab 9' in Essex Junction, Vermont's largest private employer. IBM operated the plant for decades before selling its Microelectronics business (including this facility and a sister fab in East Fishkill, NY) to GlobalFoundries in a deal that closed July 1, 2015. The facility is cited as responsible for approximately 43% of Vermont's total exports, with content from Fab 9 cited in over 85% of the world's cell phones.
A Real, Disclosed Recent Employment Picture, Including Workforce Volatility
This record discloses the real, current employment picture honestly rather than as a single static figure: approximately 2,000 employees plus roughly 800 contractors as of this pass's research, following real, disclosed workforce reductions -- an approximately 5% cut announced December 2022, and 148 workers (about 7% of the plant's then-approximately-2,000 employees) laid off in February 2024.
Real, Current Federal CHIPS Act Investment
Alongside this real volatility, GlobalFoundries has also received real, current federal investment: a cited $1.5 billion federal commitment to GlobalFoundries' Vermont and New York plants combined, with a $125 million tranche specifically cited for the Essex Junction facility, announced in March 2024.
A Real Healthcare Anchor and Wider Burlington-Metro Employer Base
UVM Health Network operates a real, current Adult Primary Care and pediatrics location directly in Essex Junction, and the city sits within the wider Burlington, VT metro labor market alongside the University of Vermont, the main University of Vermont Medical Center campus, and the State of Vermont's government offices -- though this record discloses honestly that several of these broader-metro employers are primarily located in Burlington proper rather than within Essex Junction's own city limits.
A Real, Genuinely Low Unemployment Rate and Above-National Median Income
Essex Junction's cited unemployment rate ran approximately 1.9%, and median household income (~$89,257) ran approximately 18.8% above this project's national comparison figure by this record's own calculation.
Key takeaways
- GlobalFoundries' Fab 9, tracing to IBM's 1957-2015 ownership, is Vermont's largest private employer and a real, historically significant semiconductor anchor.
- This record discloses real, recent workforce volatility (layoffs in December 2022 and February 2024) alongside a real $125 million federal CHIPS Act investment in the Essex Junction facility.
- UVM Health Network's in-city locations and the wider Burlington-metro labor market round out Essex Junction's real employer base.
- Unemployment ran genuinely low (~1.9%), and median household income ran approximately 18.8% above this project's national comparison figure.
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