| 116th Year, 38th Issue | Thursday, April 28, 2005 | Sparta, North Carolina |
Slowed by a decline in employment, Western North Carolina’s economy posted a meager .14 percent gain in the month of February, according to the WNC Economic Index and Report released late last week.
“Western North Carolina’s economic growth continues but at a slower pace,” said Todd Cherry, an author of the report compiled at Appalachian State University. Cherry is the Harlan E. Boyles Professor in Appalachian’s Walker College of Business.
“The regional economy has grown at an annual rate of 2.4 percent during the first two months of 2005, down from the high growth we experienced during the fourth quarter of last year,” said Cherry. “Recent job growth has indicated the employment situation may be improving in Western North Carolina, but job losses in February raise old concerns regarding the regional labor market.”
The slower growth recorded in February embodies the loss of more than 4,000 jobs in the region, a .7 percent decline in seasonally adjusted employment. The February drop offsets the promising employment gains achieved in January. Twenty-three of the 25 counties in Western North Carolina recorded job losses in February. Only Graham and Wilkes counties had job growth for the month. Alleghany, Burke, Jackson and Transylvania counties had the largest job losses.
As for Alleghany, the unemployment rate for February was 5.57 percent,
up from 5.42 percent in January. However, the current rates are still
lower than the 5.64 percent posted in December 2004 and much lower than
the 7.33 percent posted in February 2004. Alleghany ranked 13th of the
25 counties for unemployment rate, while the decline over the past year
was the fourth highest in WNC.
|
Get the rest of this article in this week's issue of the Alleghany News! Back |