Topics Related to Data Release

The Labor & Economic Analysis Division (LEAD) recently released the 2032 Regional Long Term Industry Projections for North Carolina. As reported in the summary of the 2032 Statewide Long Term Employment Projections earlier this year, over 500,000 new jobs are expected to be added to the North Carolina economy between 2022 and 2032, representing a percentage change of 10% . However, these trends vary significantly by region and industry.

The Labor and Economic Analysis recently released the 2032 Regional Employment Projections for nearly 140 industries and 840 occupations. These projections estimate future workforce demand based on historical employment trends and a range of economic factors and offer valuable insights for shaping education and workforce planning in North Carolina.

In July 2023, The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released updates to the country’s Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) definitions. North Carolina saw several changes that are reflective of the dynamic nature of our state's population and economic growth and tell an interesting story about the evolving landscape of urban development across the State.

In this edition of NC Economy Watch, we highlight three of the big questions we’ll be asking as 2025 gets underway: will Asheville’s labor market recover from Hurricane Helene? Will labor market conditions improve for jobseekers across the state? And will we see any more relief on interest rates?

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics just released county-level unemployment rate estimates for October 2024. These preliminary data offer a first look at the impact of Hurricane Helene on local labor markets in North Carolina. Buncombe County was the hardest hit by far, with an unemployment rate of 8.8%, while most other counties affected by the storm saw a much smaller labor market impact, or no impact at all.

In this edition of NC Economy Watch, we examine the employment data revisions just released by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. These revisions show job growth in North Carolina slowing more than we initially thought, driven in part by downward revisions in Professional and Business Services. However, large upward revisions to Construction employment offer some cause for optimism in the year to come.

Our last edition of NC Economy Watch provided a general overview of recent layoff activity. In this edition, we take a closer look at layoffs in our state and nationwide. Layoffs have increased slightly across most sectors of the United States economy, most notably in the freight industry. While layoffs might be on the rise nationwide, they remain near a multi-decade low, and most people who lose work in North Carolina are quickly re-employed in our tight labor market.

The North Carolina Department of Commerce’s Labor & Economic Analysis Division (LEAD) is happy to note that the May 2022 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics data is available across multiple platforms such as our Demand Driven Data Delivery System (D4), the Occupational Wage Lookup Tool, NCWorks.gov, and the BLS Website.

In this edition of NC Economy Watch, we examine the employment data revisions just released by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. These revisions change what we thought we knew about conditions in certain sectors of the economy. Overall, however, the revised data continue to demonstrate that, although our economy is slowing, it’s still growing.

In December, not seasonally adjusted unemployment rates decreased in 96 of North Carolina's 100 counties.