Economic Data
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“The U.S. workforce has never been older. The share of workers ages 55 and over hit 22.2 percent in July, according to data released last week by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s the highest since record-keeping began in 1948.” – Peter Coy, “American Workers Are Older Than Ever” at Bloomberg Businessweek Although I don’t have data for North Carolina going back to 1948, the Current Population Survey shows similar trends are occurring in North…
In 1870, just over half of the nation’s laborers were working on farms; in North Carolina, four of every five workers were employed in agriculture. While the share of workers employed in agriculture, forestry, and fishing industries steadily declined, North Carolina had a higher share of workers employed in agriculture than the nation until 1990. Today, the agricultural, forestry, and fishing industries employ fewer than 3% of all workers.
With respect to average hours worked, North Carolina is...pretty average, at least compared to the United States. In 2013, North Carolina employees worked an average of 34.5 hours per week or 1,794 hours per year. The U.S. average was 34.4 hours per week or 1,788 hours per year. Among the states, North Carolina was 24th for average weekly hours worked. Texas had the highest hours worked (36.3) and Delaware the lowest (32.6). Average hours worked per week…
“Young adults ages 20 to 24 are more likely to be neither working nor enrolled in school than their counterparts two decades ago. […] The numbers are worrying because people in their early twenties are at a critical juncture in their lives. The questions they’re tackling—What should I do for a living? Should I get a degree in this or that? How can I land a good first job?—will shape the rest of their lives.…
Researchers at UNC’s Center for Urban and Regional Studies identified 162 economically distressed tracts in North Carolina based on the 2007-2011 American Community Survey. Each distressed tract met three criteria: Unemployment rate greater than or equal to 14.5% Annual per capita income less than or equal to $16,921 Poverty rate greater than or equal to 24% Statewide, these 162 tracts represent 7.4% of North Carolina’s 2,195 census tracts. An additional 477 census tracts were not…
After reading this article about trends in non-earned income, I became curious about the trends in overall personal income by source. The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis has a wealth of local and regional data. They report annual aggregate personal income, as well as the source of personal income. Because the BEA measures include the value of “in-kind” transfers, such as Food Stamps (SNAP) and medical payments from Medicaid/Medicare, they capture the…
“One of the defining features of the Great Recession and not-so-great recovery has been the surge in long-term unemployment… Analysts have advanced several explanations for the persistence of long-term unemployment: an unintended consequence of extending jobless benefits; a mismatch between the skills unemployed workers have and what employers want; a breakdown in the efficiency of labor markets; or simply bad timing. Whatever the reason, it’s a major concern for policymakers, who fear that many of the long-term unemployed may never find their way back into…
Each year since 1984, PNC Wealth management has calculated the total cost of purchasing all of the items in the popular holiday song the “12 Days of Christmas.” This year’s bill would set you back a hefty $27,393, more than 34 times the amount the average household plans on spending this year ($801) according to the American Research Group. If you happen to have an eccentric (and lavish) holiday gift budget—or just like to pretend…
I stumbled across the following table while searching for some North Carolina information: Table 1. “Employed Male Civilian Population Percentage City Rank” (low to high), 2006-2010 ACS This table supposedly represents the percentage of the male civilian population that is currently employed based on the 2006-2010 American Community Survey data. As a demographer who works with social and economic data, the standard definition of the civilian population is the subset of the total population 16…
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