North Carolina employment down in last decade

new report from consulting firm South By North Strategies. In our contrasting post earlier this week, which discussed how employment has increased since the new year, we mentioned how January saw a big jump in job creation across America. Nonetheless, it seems that recent increases remain small when considering the bigger picture.

Even though North Carolina’s population has soared over the past 12 years, the state has 11,700 fewer jobs, the firm says. “While the image of North Carolina as a state growing rapidly in population and jobs was very much an accurate one in the 1990s, it no longer holds,” the report notes. “In fact, North Carolina has not recorded any net job growth over the past 12 years, despite adding residents.” In 2011, North Carolina added 19,600 jobs. The private sector created 29,400 positions, but the public sector cut 9,800 jobs, the report says. “The great recession hit, and the bottom fell out,” said Jason Jolley, a senior research director and assistant professor at the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “Two-thirds to three-quarters of the economy is based on consumer spending, and consumers don’t have money. Interest rates are historically low, but consumers don’t have access to credit. They’re tapped out.” Has the recession affected you? Have you noticed employment struggles in North Carolina?]]>