Blog Entry List

Our previous LEAD Feed analysis raised a puzzling question: why has North Carolina's manufacturing output stagnated while the nation's has grown by roughly 30% since 2004? We showed that NC's Nondurable Goods Manufacturing declined 17% over this period even as the national Nondurable Goods output rose 10%. Durable Goods Manufacturing told a similar story: NC's early gains have eroded, and the state is no longer outpacing national growth.

Nursing graduates enter the workforce with specialized, job-ready skills that are in high demand, positioning them for early career success. Drawing on the latest NC TOWER data, we take a closer look at what happens after graduation for nursing students – where they land their first jobs, average starting salaries, and how their career paths begin to take shape in the years that follow.

In this edition of NC Economy Watch, we examine labor market data released during and after the federal government shutdown. Despite a partial data blackout, these indicators demonstrate that North Carolina’s labor market has continued to progress along the same path it has in recent years. Although layoffs remain relatively uncommon, a slowdown in hiring has made it increasingly difficult to find a new job. As we enter 2026, we find ourselves staring down the fifth year of a prolonged labor market slowdown.

Lost in the news and hype of Artificial Intelligence’s impact on office work is the current and potential effects AI and machine learning are having on manufacturers and production work. But before ChatGPT and the wave of generative AI, cutting edge manufacturers were beginning to utilize artificial intelligence and machine learning to dramatically reshape factories and work.

This blog dives deeper into gross domestic product (GDP) data for manufacturing, showing trends among durables and nondurable manufacturing industries.

Our recent analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Quarterly Workforce Indicators (QWI) finds that the share of manufacturing workers nearing retirement has steadily increased and identifies the North Carolina counties where this trend poses the greatest risk.

When you hear the latest unemployment rate, most people imagine it's simply a count of unemployment insurance (UI) claims or UI benefit recipients. A common misconception is that the unemployment rate includes only people who have filed for unemployment insurance benefits. In reality, many unemployed individuals don’t receive those benefits, and much more goes on behind the scenes to calculate this important number.

In this edition of NC Economy Watch, we take stock of the economic recovery in Western North Carolina following the impact of Hurricane Helene. The region’s economic recovery began in earnest in November 2024 and has shown signs of progress with each passing month. However, as more data come in, we are learning that the economic impact of Helene was larger than initially estimated, and so far, by several measures, counties affected by the storm have experienced an incomplete economic recovery.

When you hear about job growth or job losses in the news, do you wonder where those numbers come from? The Current Employment Statistics (CES) program, a federal-state cooperative program, is administered by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) in partnership with state agencies like North Carolina's Department of Commerce Labor & Economic Analysis Division (LEAD). The CES represents the gold standard for reporting timely changes in employment levels in the United States.

So, you have spent four years debating supply and demand curves, plotting the Phillips curve, and maybe even survived a game theory final or two, and now you’re wondering: what’s next? If you’re an Economics graduate in North Carolina, the latest NC TOWER data sheds light on what that next step might look like.

For years, women have been outpacing men in earning college degrees across every level of higher education. But as we turn the page into the 2020’s, the dynamics are showing signs of shifting. The latest data from North Carolina’s public post-secondary schools paints a complex picture still favoring women, but with some nuances that suggest the future may not be as linear as the past.

North Carolina’s housing stock reflects broader trends driving the state’s development, including demographic and economic forces that have transformed the state over the past several decades. What can the age of housing and the percentage of mobile homes reveal about the state?

In September 2024, Hurricane Helene carved a devastating path across the Southeastern United States, leaving an indelible mark on Western North Carolina's economic landscape. The storm caused estimated damage within North Carolina reaching up to $59.6 billion, establishing it as one of the costliest hurricanes in recent history. With the release of Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) data for the second quarter following the storm, we now have a clearer picture of how industry employment has been affected across the hardest-hit areas.

College majors aren't just academic choices as they often set the stage for lifelong income differences. By following traditional gender paths into fields like education or engineering, students may unknowingly reinforce the gender pay gap before their careers even begin.

Every June, thousands of North Carolina high schoolers toss their graduation caps into the sky and step into the unknown. But where do they actually land? We dug into the data of more than 950,000 students who graduated from NC public schools between 2014 and 2023 to find out. Thanks to the NC TOWER which tracks employment and higher education outcomes, we can follow the journeys of about 92% of these grads through jobs and colleges both in and out of state.