April 16, 2012 - Cabarrus County

NORTH CAROLINA ECONOMIC OVERVIEW: FEBRUARY 2012North Carolina’s unemployment rate decreasedagain this month behind continued employmentgains. Nonfarm employment saw the highestmonth-to-month percent gain since October 2010.Housing authorizations and existing home saleswere up this month compared to the same monthlast year while foreclosure filing fell by 16 percentover the same period. Hotel occupancy, whichreflects tourism activity in the State, increased inJanuary compared to January of last year by 2.8percent.National employment data for January displayedan uptick alongside a decrease in unemployedworkers allowing the unemployment rate to fall to 8.3 percent. US Real GDP grew 3.0 percent according to the“third” estimate for the 4 th quarter of 2011, compared to the 3 rd quarter of 2011.The number of employed workers inNorth Carolina in January was higherthan December levels according to thelatest data. The increase in employmentis the fifth consecutive month of growthfor the State. Another method ofmeasuring employment growth is tocompare the current month to the samemonth last year. Comparing January2012 to January 2011 employment hasincreased 1.5 percent. The State hasexperienced year-over-year growth inemployment every month since October2010. Looking specifically at the first 6months of the year, North CarolinaEmployment levels increase for the 5 th consecutive monthKEY INDICATORS AT A GLANCEN.C. Unemployment Rate decreased0.2%10.4% in December to 10.2% in JanuaryU.S. Unemployment Rate decreased0.2%From 8.5% in December to 8.3% in JanuaryNC Hotel occupancy increased2.8%From January 2011 to January 2012North Carolina Employed Workers from January to June (in Thousands)January 2008 to Present4,4004,3504,3004,25020084,20020094,1504,10020104,05020114,00020123,9503,9003,850N.C. Department of Commerce, Division of Employment Security, Labor Force Statisticsemployment remains below pre-recessionary levels. Since 2010, however, we’ve made gains every month.Unemployment, which decreased monthly from September to December in 2011, continued to fall in January.The number of unemployed workers in the State fell 1.6 percent from December to January.North Carolina Seasonally Adjusted Labor Force StatisticsDec-11 Jan-12Previous Month(1/12 compared to 12/12)Last Year - Same Month(1/12 compared to 1/11)Start of Recession(1/12 compared to 12/07)(revised) (preliminary) Change % Change Change % Change Change % ChangeLabor Force 4,677,236 4,683,481 6,245 0.1% 51,248 1.1% 123,084 2.7%Employed 4,192,992 4,207,205 14,213 0.3% 61,984 1.5% (126,953) -2.9%Unemployed 484,244 476,276 (7,968) -1.6% (10,736) -2.2% 250,037 110.5%N.C. Department of Commerce, Division of Employment Security, Labor Force StatisticsPolicy, Research & Strategic Planning; February 2012 ReportI-4Page 259