Economy continues to grow

Lower unemployment in 23 of Western North Carolina’s 25 counties helped sustain the region’s economic growth in November, ‘05 according to data complied in the Western North Carolina Economic Index.

The index increased 0.4 percent in November 2005 to register 119.9 – up from the revised October number of 119.4.

During the past four months, the WNC economy has increased at an annual rate of 4.8 percent, and the WNC unemployment rate has decreased 0.7 percentage points.

“The employment situation has been improving, with job gains in the previous eight months,” said Todd Cherry, an economist at Appalachian State University and an author of the Western North Carolina Economic Index. Cherry is the Harlan E. Boyles Professor in Appalachian’s Walker College of Business.

The region did experience a loss of 665 jobs.

“Employment was flat in November, but I would not interpret this as any shift in the overall positive trend. The breadth of the unemployment improvement is impressive. And the improvement in unemployment can reassure us a bit that the employment picture hasn’t undergone any significant shifts.”

Clay, Rutherford and Yancey counties experienced the largest job losses in November, while Swain and Alleghany counties had the largest gains.

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