A welder in South Philadelphia who has been searching for stable work after years of short-term projects may soon see his name on the hiring list of Rhoads Industries — a company building a 95,000-square-foot submarine construction facility at Navy Yard that is expected to create 450 new jobs for welders, electricians, and related trades.
Most of the real benefits go to skilled tradespeople, not small businesses.
Where the Money Comes From
This investment is no accident. JPMorgan Chase has committed 13 million dollars to Rhoads Industries alone, part of a larger New Market Tax Credit package, while Rhoads and General Dynamics Electric Boat have just secured a 10-year contract valued at 2.5 billion dollars to produce components for U.S. Navy submarines. This is one piece of a broader JPMorgan Chase initiative called the Security and Recovery Initiative, a 1.5 trillion-dollar plan over 10 years designed to fund U.S. defense infrastructure and critical industries.
Meanwhile, Hanwha — the South Korean company that acquired the South Philadelphia shipyard in 2024 — has received additional national security shipbuilding orders worth 1.5 billion dollars, expected to support more than 2,000 jobs. Both contracts are part of more than 30 investment and partnership announcements made at the Carlisle conference, with a combined value near 10 billion dollars and over 4,000 projected jobs across Pennsylvania.
Winners and Those Still Waiting
The clear winners are companies that already have government contracts — Rhoads, Hanwha, and Day & Zimmermann with a 2.3 billion-dollar contract to operate and modernize the Hawthorne weapons depot in Nevada. But most of the real benefits go to skilled tradespeople: welders, electricians, maintenance technicians — professions requiring shorter training programs rather than college degrees. This is why JPMorgan Chase has earmarked funding specifically for the University City District's Skills Initiative, aimed at training 300 area residents through non-degree pathways linked to shipbuilding and advanced manufacturing.
Those unlikely to benefit are small businesses not part of the defense supply chain. The 5 million-dollar loan to PIDC is only enough to support about 15 small loans — a modest figure compared to the overall scale of the investment package.
Why Now
This investment level reflects a real gap: the United States currently has fewer than 190 merchant vessels flying the American flag, compared to nearly 3,000 in the 1960s. Trump signed an executive order noting that America builds less than 1% of global merchant shipping, while China accounts for about half of production. This is the political context driving federal officials and lawmakers like Senator Dave McCormick — who organized the Carlisle conference — to push private investment rather than relying solely on the defense budget.
What to Watch
The big question is whether employment commitments will translate into actual jobs on schedule, as many projects — such as Rhoads' 100 million-dollar expansion or Hanwha's 5 billion-dollar plan — were announced last year but remain in construction phases. Philadelphia workers should monitor the free training programs being rolled out by PIDC and University City District, as these represent the real gateway to these new jobs, rather than simply waiting for investment news.