Although the top of the list has changed, much has stayed the same on the list of Delaware’s top employers over the past two decades.
Seven employers that were featured on The News Journal’s list of Delaware’s top employers in 2002 found a spot in 2022 led both times by the state of Delaware. The largest relative newcomer is Amazon, which has about 7,500 Delaware employees.
A notable omission from the list is DuPont, which at one point had more than 25,000 employees in the First State. The chemicals and electronics company today has 2,700 Delaware employees.
Other companies on the outside of the top 10 looking in include Bayhealth, Nemours Children’s Health, W.L. Gore and Associates, Perdue Farms, Beebe Healthcare and AstraZeneca.
The state’s Department of Labor doesn’t share employment tallies of private employers. The workforce figures listed below were provided by company representatives, were available publicly or were reported previously by media outlets. They include full- and part-time employees.
10. Walmart (4,400)
Walmart operates six supercenter stores, three discount stores and one Sam’s Club in Delaware. It also has a distribution center in Smyrna.
9. University of Delaware (4,746)
UD’s total enrollment is 23,613, including 18,618 undergraduate students.
8. Mountaire Farms (5,032)
According to the Delmarva Chicken Association, 567 million chickens were raised in Delaware last year. About half of Mountaire’s U.S. workforce is in Delaware.
7. Federal government (5,800)
U.S. government employees in Delaware work in a variety of roles, from agriculture to veterans affairs.
6. Bank of America (6,000)
MBNA announced it was being acquired by Bank of America in 2005. For several years, MBNA had more than 10,000 Delaware employees.
5. Dover Air Force Base (6,156)
In addition to preparing and deploying airmen, one of the base’s primary missions is receiving and honoring service members killed overseas. More than 1,000 civilians work at Dover Air Force Base.
4. Amazon (7,500)
The e-commerce giant is one of Delaware’s fastest-growing employers. With the opening of large warehouses at the former General Motors site near Newport and the former Blue Diamond Park near New Castle, Amazon has more than doubled its Delaware presence in the last year. A report in January found Delaware has the most Amazon warehouse space per capita of the 50 states.
3. JPMorgan Chase (11,000)
JPMorgan Chase has several properties in the First State, headlined by its Delaware Technology Center office complex off Concord Pike in Fairfax. In the last seven years, JPMorgan Chase has added around 4,000 Delaware employees.
2. ChristianaCare (11,612)
ChristianaCare has been the largest private employer in Delaware for more than a decade. The company in August ended talks to expand in the Philadelphia region with the purchase of Crozer Health.
1. State of Delaware (31,400)
The state passed DuPont in 1999 to become Delaware’s largest employer, according to News Journal archives.
Contact Brandon Holveck at bholveck@delawareonline.com. Follow him on Twitter @holveck_brandon.
