NC Tied for third in unemployment
Published August 23, 2013
by Myron Pitts, Fayetteville Observer, August 22, 2013.
Our state at last has something to be proud of: We are now tied with Rhode Island in the No.3 slot for unemployment, with an 8.9 percent rate, according to the latest figures by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The excesses of the previous N.C. governors and state legislators are finally being corrected and weeded out. Unfortunately, those “excesses” appear to be jobs.
Only Nevada (9.5) Illinois (9.2) are ahead of us now in unemployment.
Nevada will be tough to catch, considering they got there in part by a complete collapse in real estate that we have not been able to match.
But cutting teacher’s assistants and other public employees by the thousands may be able to get us to the Illinois level, if we work hard and apply ourselves.
Let’s give the General Assembly a chance to get us to that No. 1 slot before we just give up.
We also, incidentally, picked a good time to be the only state in the U.S. to cut off federal funds for the long-term unemployed, as we casually kick people off the rolls and reduce payments to those who remain.
August 23, 2013 at 9:46 am
dj anderson says:
I used to think some Republicans rejoiced in the falling recession in 2009, but now I think this columnist is rejoicing in the low standing NC is in regarding unemployment. Wonder if he was liking it in 2009, or is it just hating on Republicans? Anyway, not much meat on the bones of this column.
August 24, 2013 at 12:10 am
TP Wohlford says:
I was unaware that the duty of any government was to provide employment by hiring everyone. I was under the impression that a well-run government hired the people it needed, subject to constraints of the budget.
Tell me -- which is worse -- losing a few jobs to budget cuts, or watching wholesale exodus as the local government falls into ruin? Here's a hint -- I once lived in metro Detroit....
Given the record of Dems in places like Chicago and Massachusetts, I'm thinking that they would've been forced to make the same cuts here. And given the budget projections for next year, I'm betting either party will be forced into more cuts.
Beyond that, all of the whining is pure politics and pandering punditry. Which of course is much easier to write than to cover the actual issue and possible solutions.
