The Lead Feed

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 2025 County Development Tiers went into effect on January 1, with a relatively large number of counties shifting tier from 2024. In total, eighteen counties changed tier in 2025. This blog will review the Tiers and highlight this year’s changes.

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.

This morning, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics released its first batch of official statistics covering the impact of Hurricane Helene on North Carolina’s economy. This article describes what we know so far about the employment impact of Helene—or, at least, what we think we know, given the preliminary nature of these statistics. We also summarize what we don’t yet know about the impact of Helene and leave readers with some things to keep in mind as we continue to sort through this emerging evidence.

Industry 4.0 is reshaping North Carolina's manufacturing landscape, and with it, the role of economic developers across the state. As highlighted in the recent "Best Practices for Growing Manufacturing in North Carolina" report, our approach to fostering industrial growth and competitiveness must continue to evolve to maintain our position as a global manufacturing leader.

In this edition of NC Economy Watch, we take stock of how labor market conditions in North Carolina and nationwide have changed since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the past two years, hiring new employees has gotten easier while finding a new job has become more difficult. Although the future is uncertain, it’s clear that the COVID-era labor market is now a thing of the past.

North Carolina is gearing up for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which will integrate advanced technologies like robotics, the internet of things, and data analytics into manufacturing operations. This seismic shift, as outlined in "Best Practices for Growing Manufacturing in North Carolina," will profoundly impact workforce development professionals across the state.

North Carolina is preparing for the next industrial revolution driven by advanced "Industry 4.0" technologies like robotics, automation, and data analytics. A new report from the NC Department of Commerce and NC State’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership, "Best Practices for Growing Manufacturing in North Carolina," outlines some major implications this shift will have for the state's manufacturing workforce.

In this edition of NC Economy Watch, we describe some of the unusual developments we’ve seen in the housing market over the past several years. Our economy has absorbed a rapid increase in interest rates without experiencing a housing crash, but while a resilient housing market has helped us avert another recession, high interest rates and rising home values have also priced out many potential homebuyers.

As we conclude our three-part series on North Carolina’s 2032 employment projections, we shift our focus to the future of talent demands. After examining overall employment trends and industry outlooks in the previous articles, we now dive into to occupational projections, providing valuable insights into job prospects and educational requirements.

Following our earlier blog highlighting the trends and findings of the North Carolina’s long-term employment projections, we now delve into a detailed analysis of employment projections across specific industry in the state.

In this study, we use administrative data from the North Carolina Common Follow-up System (CFS) to evaluate the impact of CTE on students with disabilities, finding that CTE “concentrators”—students who earned multiple credits in a CTE career pathway— experienced improved labor market and educational outcomes in subsequent years, including higher employment rates, higher wage earnings, and higher postsecondary enrollment rates.

The Labor & Economic Analysis Division (LEAD) has recently unveiled North Carolina’s long-term employment projections through 2032. The projections offer in-depth insight into both industry and occupational trends, with the full data available on our web-site. This blog is part of the projections series highlighting key statewide trends and findings. Additionally, projections for the sub-state areas will be released at a later time.

LEAD has surveyed businesses across North Carolina every two years since 2014 on behalf of the state’s NCWorks Commission, with a particular emphasis on hiring challenges, recruitment and retention, and other business needs. Although fewer businesses reported hiring difficulties than in the previous survey, many employers still struggle with finding the talent they need.

North Carolina has successfully positioned itself as a global leader in manufacturing. But as revealed in a new report from the NC Department of Commerce and NC State’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), Best Practices for Growing Manufacturing in North Carolina, maintaining that edge in the Fourth Industrial Revolution is not without its challenges. Implementing cutting-edge "Industry 4.0" technologies like robotics, the internet of things (IoT), and data analytics won't be easy for employers.