The Lead Feed

Every first and third Tuesday, starting at 11:30 am, our team of analysts and economic experts go “beyond the numbers” to explore emerging workforce trends, untapped opportunities, and growing career fields across NC. Join us for the LMI Tuesdays webinar series!

Following the COVID-19 recession, employment rates for individuals with disabilities hit record highs nationwide and in North Carolina, yet the exact reasons behind this sudden increase remain largely unresolved. In this article, we use American Community Survey (ACS) data to examine several proposed explanations for the surprising uptick in disability employment.

In this edition of NC Economy Watch, we provide some context for the recent manufacturing slowdown. The manufacturing sector experienced turbulence during the past year and has declined as a share of the North Carolina economy since the 1980s, but a nationwide surge of new investment in manufacturing facilities offers hope for a potential renaissance in the years to come.

Individuals with disabilities are an important source of workforce talent but have historically experienced poor labor market outcomes. This article uses data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) to describe the workforce outcomes and employment barriers of individuals with disabilities in North Carolina.

This is the third article in LEAD’s recent Manufacturing series, which explores North Carolina’s Industry 4.0 assets.

Recently released data from the US Census Bureau’s 2022 American Community Survey (ACS) suggest youth disconnection in North Carolina has returned to pre-pandemic lows. Primarily due to a strong economic recovery, youth engagement has rebounded quickly following the COVID-19 recession.

What happens to people after they leave our state’s prison system? How many find employment after prison? How much money do they earn? And how do these outcomes vary by race? The North Carolina Reentry Outcome Reporting System (NC-RORS) can answer all these questions and more. This article uses data from this new interactive tool to shed light on the employment outcomes of formerly incarcerated individuals.

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.

In a previous article discussing the updated data in NCcareers.org, it was noted that the count of occupations available for review had increased from 793 to 823. What are these new occupations?

NCcareers.org is where career explorers can find up-to-date NC specific career information to meet their personal and professional needs, interests and goals. The site has recently received a complete data refresh based on the most recent definition of occupations and educational programs – using the latest BLS SOC and US Department of Education CIP taxonomies.

In this edition of NC Economy Watch, we look at layoff activity in North Carolina. Recent plant closures have rocked local communities and dominated headlines across our state. While these mass layoffs might reflect weakness in parts of the manufacturing sector, they have had only a limited impact on statewide employment statistics and, so far, they do not appear to be signaling a recession.

LEAD recently released the NC Racial Equity Dashboard that examines demographic and economic data by race and ethnicity statewide, as well as by county for select measures. While this blog highlights three key findings from the dashboard to get you started, we encourage you to investigate the data on your own to uncover further valuable insights.

In our last edition of NC Economy Watch, we described some of the ways in which our economy has changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this edition, we examine aspects of our economy that have not changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. For the most part, people are still working in the same industries; the labor market is tightening at the same pace; and the rise of e-commerce is where we’d expect it to be based on trends that preceded the pandemic.

The second in a series on Manufacturing in North Carolina, this article explores the sector’s economic trends over the last 30 years.

In honor of Women's Equality Day on August 26th, we are examining women’s progress in the labor market. In this brief, we'll look at wage growth from 2019-2022 to see how women have fared in North Carolina compared to men.