JLF’s Mitch Kokai weighs in on new North Carolina unemployment numbers, as reported by Richard Craver of the Winston-Salem Journal.
Most noteworthy in the September employer survey is that the state had a loss of 3,400 private-sector jobs from August.
The biggest decline was 4,600 jobs in leisure and hospitality services — likely the ending of seasonal jobs — along with a loss of 2,600 in financial activities and a loss of 1,000 in education and health services.
On the plus side: net gains of 1,600 jobs each in manufacturing, and trade, transportation and utilities, 1,300 on construction and 900 in professional and business services.
Still, only a net gain of 5,900 government jobs pushed the state’s economy into positive territory.
From September 2016 to September 2017, the state has had a net gain of 53,300 private-sector and 8,100 government jobs.
“At this point, it would be difficult to foresee a set of circumstances that would drive the headline unemployment rate much lower,” said Mitch Kokai, policy analyst with Libertarian think tank John Locke Foundation.
Check out the full story here.
