Topics Related to Economic Trend

Recent advancements in AI have many people wondering how it might impact the future of work and North Carolina’s labor market. LEAD examines these questions and recent AI progress in this article.

In this edition of NC Economy Watch, we provide an update on the financial health of consumers. Rising prices are eating away at the savings households built up during the COVID-19 pandemic, but for now, many consumers still have money to spare, which has important implications for the economy in the year to come.

Welcome to the January 2023 edition of NC Economy Watch: an update on what’s happening in the North Carolina economy and what it means for you, brought to you by the Labor & Economic Analysis Division (LEAD) of the NC Department of Commerce.

In this edition, we provide an update on hiring challenges in our state. The labor market has eased slightly in recent months, but hiring conditions remain historically tight, and demographic trends suggest labor shortages may become a routine feature of life during future periods of economic growth.

While many sectors have steadily regained employment following the COVID-19 recession, the childcare service workforce continues to face a significant shortfall. In this article, we use data from the North Carolina Common Follow-up System (CFS) to show the shortfall in childcare service employment can be primarily attributed to increased worker outflows among younger childcare workers to other higher-paying industries or out of the workforce altogether.

Which industries in North Carolina are most exposed to automation related employment disruptions? What does industry automation exposure mean for workers, workforce and economic development leaders, policymakers, and businesses? This piece examines these questions by applying automation exposure data at the industry level.

North Carolina had the 11th largest economy by gross domestic product (GDP) in the U.S. in 2018 at nearly $566 billion, increasing 2.9% from 2017 – level with U.S. GDP growth and higher than NC’s 2017 rate (2.2%). Combined, the Finance and Manufacturing sectors accounted for 38% of the state’s GDP.