Oct. 5--The industry that dominates Charlotte's skyline also writes the fattest paycheck.

Banks and their financial service colleagues accounted for more than one-fifth of Mecklenburg private sector wages paid last year, a whopping $5.6 billion.

That's more than double the 1990 level.

No other employer even comes close.

Now Wachovia, one of two major leaders of that growth, is plunged into a battle between two would-be buyers. Either deal would almost certainly mean wrenching job losses at the troubled bank and the many businesses that thrive on bank wages.

For the first time, Charlotte must confront a major threat to the industry that put the city on the map, making it the nation's No. 2 banking center. The coming losses will test the resilience of an economy accustomed to banking fortunes and likely force discussion about whether the city has become too dependent on a single industry.

"In the white-collar work force we have ... less diversity than we would like to have," said Kenny McDonald, executive vice president of the Charlotte Regional Partnership. That said, the city would welcome thousands more banking jobs. "Love it while you've got it, but obviously you have to be doing other things."

To be sure, nearly 80 percent of private Mecklenburg wages came last year from a range of other industries, although some are closely linked to the finance world. Government paychecks added $2.9 billion to the county payroll.

Mecklenburg has seen rising wages in manufacturing and big growth in healthcare, warehousing and transportation as well as retail, restaurant and hotel jobs.

Still, finance employment is so big that even when spread to a five-county region, it remains the biggest wage producer.

The area has seen big new investments, such as the ambitious biotech campus on the grounds of a former mill in Kannapolis. In July, McDonald's group, which recruits business for a 16-county area, said it will focus recruiting on three broad new sectors -- none specifically financial services.

The likely loss of Wachovia jobs brings a new urgency to the mission.

"It's wrong to say the whole Charlotte economy is going to go down," said Douglas Woodward, an economics professor at the University of South Carolina Moore School of Business.

However, he said, "That is not a very diverse economy when you have that much concentrated in the financial sector."

The scary 'what if'

City leaders have long bristled at suggestions that Charlotte has everything riding on its banktown status, but there has also been a whispered fear.

"Everybody says, 'what if a bank leaves?'" McDonald said.

Last Monday, the unthinkable happened.

Citigroup said it would buy Wachovia in a rushed, government-brokered deal that would carve up the bank.