N.C. Unemployment Falls

A little good news on the labor front today, as North Carolina’s unemployment rate dropped to 9.6%, the News and Record reported today.  The rate was 9.7% last month. If you’re looking for work, please remember that Greensboro Public Library would like to help.  We’ve got a full-time employment counselor named Kim Hailey, as well as some [...]

NC Unemployment Declines in July

Unemployment in North Carolina fell to 9.8% in July, the News and Record reported today.  The state’s jobless rate had exceeded 10% every month since February 2009. Earlier in August, the Labor Department reported that national unemployment for July remained unchanged versus the previous month at 9.5%.  A state-by-state analysis shows that jobless rolls declined [...]

Guilford Unemployment Up Again

The State of North Carolina’s county unemployment data is out today, and it suggests the recovery is still a little shaky with 45 counties showing month over month increases in June.   Guilford’s jobless is now 10.9%, up from 10.6% in May. Please remember, if you’re in the ranks of the unemployed and looking for work, [...]

Krugman Now Warning About Deflation

Ever since the financial crisis really took hold of the economy back in September, 2008, Princeton economist Paul Krugman has been warning about the grim prospect of Japanese-style deflation — a grinding, slow-growth economic malaise that could go on for years. This past week he expressed the same views again (here, here and here), following an article by John Makin appearing in [...]

Krugman Fears It’s a Depression

Back in the Spring of 2009, in what must have been the darkest days of the financial crisis, we wondered in this blog if we were on the verge of a depression.  I’ve since gotten used to calling this period of economic woe the Great Recession, but now it seems Princeton economist Paul Krugman has decided we’re probably in “the [...]

Unemployment Down Again in N.C.

Just a brief note here that North Carolina’s unemployment rate was down for May to 10.3%, the News and Record reported today. This is the third straight month of declines since February’s 11.2%.   As for the national picture, the jobless rate dropped to 9.7%, a decline of .2% versus April, but, according to this MSNBC article, [...]

N.C. Unemployment is Looking a Little Better

Just a brief note that North Carolina’s unemployment rate fell in April to 10.8%, according to today’s News and Record.  This was down from 11.2% in February. There are also hopeful signs for a downward trend nationally, as MSNBC reported today that April jobless rates declined in 34 of the 50 states.  However, the national rate still [...]

State Releases County Unemployment Rates for February

The North Carolina Employment Security Commission released its county unemployment data for February today, the News and Record reported. As you might have guessed, joblessness remains high across North Carolina.  As the chart above indicates, most county unemployment rates in the state fall in the 10.1-14.0% range (59 counties).  Guilford County’s February rate, which was unchanged [...]

Greensboro’s Google Fiber Efforts are Making a Difference!

As the deadline for submitting the Google Fiber Request for Information draws near, Greensboro’s efforts are attracting national notice, including mention by PC Magazine, which picked up on our YouTube video. And this post from localtechwire suggests we’re one of the top ten cities in the country making a pitch, based on a “share of voice” analysis made by [...]

February Unemployment in N.C. Rises to 11.2%

The ranks of the jobless in North Carolina continued to rise in February to 11.2%, the News and Record reported today.  This was up .01% from January. Wake Forest economist Robert Whaples thinks it’s possible the rate worsened because more people are actually looking for work, which could be taken as a hopeful sign. At any rate, if [...]