MEDIA RELEASE: Unemployment is still elevated across most of North Carolina

RALEIGH (June 3, 2015) — Most of North Carolina is still falling short of a full economic recovery, according to official figures released today. Roughly two-thirds of North Carolina’s counties have more people looking for work and fewer people employed today than before the financial crisis of 2008.

“We’re now more than seven years out from the start of the Great Recession, and only 30 of North Carolina’s 100 counties have gotten to what economists consider a healthy level of employment, ” said Patrick McHugh, Economic Analyst for the Budget & Tax Center, a project of the NC Justice Center.

Notable data from the labor market release include:

• The unemployment rate is still higher than it was before the recession in 67 of North Carolina’s 100 counties.
• 65 of North Carolina’s 100 counties have fewer people working today than before the recession.
  14 of North Carolina’s 15 metropolitan areas still have more people looking for work than before the recession.
• The local labor market data for April show that the recovery is still incomplete across most of the state. While employment is strong in most of the large cities like Raleigh and Charlotte, the story is very different in most small towns and rural parts of the state.

“Far too many communities are still facing stagnated wages and few job opportunities—hardly the recipe for a full recovery,” McHugh said.

The Budget & Tax Center provides summaries of each county’s current labor market data, and how each county has fared since the start of the recession.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Patrick McHugh, patrick@ncjustice.org, 919.856.2183; Jeff Shaw, jeff@ncjustice.org, 503.551.3615 (cell).