CHARLOTTE — It’s one big state, but North Carolina’s top experts on business and the economy say each of its five regions must grapple with unique problems — and come up with unique solutions — in the coming year. They deflate some myths and make their predictions in the February issue of Business North Carolina magazine, backed by employment and other data in the magazine’s annual Business Handbook. Their conclusions?
Eastern North Carolina: Things are starting to look better, but it’ll take more than a recovery to rid the region of long-embedded rural poverty. So says James Kleckley, director of the Bureau of Business Research at East Carolina University. A major misconception? That the region’s economy is rooted in its soil. “Agriculture still plays an important role but not the dominant one.”
The Research Triangle: Its wealth of highly educated workers — one reason hard recent times weren’t as hard as elsewhere — will keep the region competitive. But N.C. State University economist Michael Walden says, “The biggest myth about the Triangle is that we are recession-proof.”
The Charlotte Region: The credit crisis clobbered the nation’s No. 2 financial center, and it’ll take years for the region to bounce back. But Mark Vitner, Charlotte-based senior economist at Well Fargo & Co., says there’s a myth you could drive a Freightliner through. “More people work in trucking and warehousing than in banking.” The Triad: Erosion of the region’s once mighty manufacturing base is a problem that predates — and will outlast — the recession. Says G. Donald Jud, professor emeritus in the Bryan School of Business and Economics at UNC Greensboro, “You have to recognize the Triad economy is more than textiles, apparel and furniture.”
Western North Carolina: The mountains took longer than the rest of the state to climb out of the valley of the last recession that began in 2001 and this one’s deeper. Todd Cherry, director of the Center for Economic Research & Policy Analysis at Appalachian State University, says a widely held assumption is off base. “The region’s economy is seasonal, but probably not as much as many people would expect.”
More of their comments, along with employment data for each region, reports on jobs in 10 major industry sectors, a list of the largest private employers and other features are in the February issue. Business North Carolina is a Charlotte-based monthly magazine that focuses on the people, events and trends that shape business in North Carolina. Since it began in 1981, it has won more than 90 national awards for writing, reporting and design.
