Land Use Plan – 2002 - Stanly County, North Carolina

Employment Sectors
STANLY COUNTY
Comprising of over 27.1 percent the county’s employment base, the largest employment sector
of the Stanly County economy in 2000 remains the manufacture of non-durable goods (Table 2-
13) a drop of 0.4 percentage points for the overall market since 1990. This reflects the size and
importance of this sector of the economy despite the decline of the textile industry since the
early 1990s. Behind the manufacturing/non-durable sector is the retail trade sector that
accounted for 14.5 percent of the county’s employment base, and the manufacture of durable
goods that accounted for 13.0 percent of the county employment base.
The state of North Carolina’s largest employment sector was the retail trades with 16.0 percent
of the employed workforce in 2001. Behind the retail trades sector was the manufacture of nondurable
goods sector at 14.4 percent of persons employed, and the manufacture of durable
goods sector that accounted for 11.7 percent of statewide employment.
Commuting Time
Commuting time is an important indicator of the land use relationship between residential
development areas patterns and places of employment such as commercial, industrial, public,
and agricultural areas. In 1990, 74 percent of the Stanly County workforce was traveling less
than 30 minutes to work (Table 2-14). This indicates that the great majority of Stanly County’s
labor force was working within the county. The average commute time for the Stanly County
labor force was 20.8 minutes, roughly similar to the statewide average. Statistics from 2000
indicated a commuting time increase for Stanly County to 25.3 minutes, a 21.6 percent increase
from 1990. A similar increase was registered for the state of North Carolina over the same time
period.
Table 2-13. Employment by Industrial Sector (Population 16+
Years), Stanly County and State of North Carolina, 1990-2000.
State of
North Carolina Stanly County
Industry 1990 2000 1990 2000
Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries 2.8 2.8 2.0 2.1
Mining 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2
Construction 7.0 7.2 8.7 8.9
Manufacturing-Non-durable Goods 14.9 14.4 27.5 27.1
Manufacturing-Durable Goods 11.8 11.7 12.9 13.0
Transportation 3.8 3.8 2.8 2.8
Communications and Other Public Utilities 2.6 2.7 1.6 1.6
Wholesales Trade 4.2 4.4 2.5 2.6
Retail Trade 16.1 16.0 14.6 14.5
Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate 5.1 5.3 3.4 3.6
Business and Repair Services 3.9 4.0 3.3 3.5
Personal Services 2.8 2.7 2.0 1.9
Entertainment and Recreation Services 1.0 1.0 0.9 0.8
Health Services 7.2 7.1 4.7 4.7
Educational Services 8.0 7.9 6.8 6.6
Other Professional and Related Services 5.1 5.2 2.9 2.8
Public Administration 3.6 3.6 3.3 3.2
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, 1990.
Claritas, 2002.
Land Use Plan 2-9 6/02