Economic success far from a statewide story
Published January 10, 2016
Editorial by Fayetteville Observer, January 10, 2015.
There was a lot of good economic news in the air last week as business executives gathered in Durham for the state's annual Economic Forecast Forum.
It's not just hype. North Carolina's recovery from the recession is finally rolling along, gathering speed. Unemployment is down, and workers' wage gains are strong.
The improvements, Gov. Pat McCrory told the 800 executives at the forum, are a result of changes he and the General Assembly have made, including quickly paying off the state's massive unemployment-insurance debt to the federal government and reductions in the state's personal and corporate tax rates.
"We're still in that recovery," the governor said, "and there are still people hurting in many parts of the state, but we've seen an incredible rebound in the economy of North Carolina."
What we've really seen is incredible rebounds in the Triangle and Charlotte, smaller rebounds in other areas - mainly the Triad - and the rest of the state lagging far behind the success stories.
This was underscored two days after the forum when an economist delivered to state lawmakers a study showing that 90 of the state's 100 counties have average annual pay that's at least 10 percent below the state average - and a majority are at least 25 percent lower. That last group includes many of the counties in this region.
The truth is, if you want to enjoy the vaunted "Carolina Comeback," you need to move to the Triangle or Charlotte. It's not happening here.
In part, that's because state economic-development initiatives have concentrated on our largest metro areas, with their high education levels and abundance of skilled labor and intellectual capital.
In the more rural areas, those resources are often missing, and it's far harder to create new job opportunities. In Fayetteville, the two biggest economic-development stories in recent years have been the arrival of call centers and the implosion of a plan for a chicken-processing plant.
There is no point in waiting for the state to hand us opportunities for economic development. We've got to sell ourselves. We've got to create a community that is attractive to businesses looking for a place to expand and a supportive home for startups.
That is the big job for all 90 of those counties that lost their ticket to the gravy train. Create a great community and a skilled workforce, and the train will come.
January 10, 2016 at 9:15 am
bruce stanley says:
The General assembly tried to help rural NC through sales tax reform, but the media, urban politicians afraid of having less money to spend, democrats, and even the governor branded it as a redistribution scheme. It would have helped rural NC.
