skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, April 19, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Tribal advocates keep up legal pressure for fair political maps; 12-member jury sworn in for Trump's historic criminal trial; the importance of healthcare decision planning; and a debt dilemma: poll shows how many people wrestle with college costs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Civil rights activists say a court ruling could end the right to protest in three southern states, a federal judge lets January 6th lawsuits proceed against former President Trump, and police arrest dozens at a Columbia University Gaza protest.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Rural Wyoming needs more vocational teachers to sustain its workforce pipeline, Ohio environmental advocates fear harm from a proposal to open 40-thousand forest acres to fracking and rural communities build bike trail systems to promote nature, boost the economy.

NC Unemployment Declines, But Not for Everyone

play audio
Play

Monday, May 19, 2014   

RALEIGH, N.C. - North Carolina's unemployment rate continues to fall, according to data released on Friday. It's down to 6.2 percent. That's welcome news for the thousands of people who now have a job, but policy analyst Allan Freyer with the North Carolina Budget and Tax Center says based on recent jobs reports, not everyone is reaping the rewards.

"These reports make it clear that the state's economy is growing unevenly, across the state. Some regions are doing a lot better than others," Freyer says.

A recent analysis by the Center showed that North Carolina's business incentive program disproportionately allocates incentive dollars to projects in the wealthiest 20 counties in the state. Freyer also points out that, although adding 71,000 jobs in the last year, it will be another year before the state catches up to where it was before the Great Recession, at the current job-growth rate.

Freyer found that out of the $840 million granted since 2007 by the Department of Commerce, 70 percent went to the state's least-distressed counties.

"That basically means that the state is promising to create or retain two jobs in the 20 wealthiest counties in the state for every one job promised to the poorest counties in the state," he explains.

He adds it is costing the state almost twice as much in incentive dollars for each job promised in the wealthiest counties, compared to counties in more economically distressed areas. According to the Center's analysis, the incentive money has been focused in the Asheville and greater Charlotte areas, the Research Triangle and the I-40 corridor in the Triad.

The analysis is available at www.ncjustice.org.




get more stories like this via email

more stories
The Bureau of Land Management's newly issued Public Lands Rule is designed to safeguard cultural resources such as New Mexico's Chaco Culture National Park. (Photo courtesy SallyPaez)

Environment

play sound

Balancing the needs of the many with those who have traditionally reaped benefits from public lands is behind a new rule issued Thursday by the Bureau…


Health and Wellness

play sound

Alzheimer's disease is the eighth-leading cause of death in Pennsylvania. A documentary on the topic debuts Saturday in Pittsburgh. "Remember Me: …

Social Issues

play sound

April is Financial Literacy Month, when the focus is on learning smart money habits but also how to protect yourself from fraud. One problem on the …


Outdoor recreation added $11.7 million to the Arizona economy in 2022, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. (Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

Arizona conservation groups and sportsmen alike say they're pleased the Bureau of Land Management will now recognize conservation as an integral part …

play sound

Across the U.S., most political boundaries tied to the 2020 Census have been in place for a while, but a national project on map fairness for …

The 2023 Annie E. Casey Foundation Data Book ranked Arkansas 37th in the nation for education, and said 56% of young children were not in preschool programs to help get them ready for school. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

The need for child care and early learning is critical, especially in rural Arkansas. One nonprofit is working to fill those gaps by giving providers …

Environment

play sound

An annual march for farmworkers' rights is being held Sunday in northwest Washington. This year, marchers are focusing on the conditions for local …

Social Issues

play sound

A new Gallup and Lumina Foundation poll unveils a concerning reality: Hoosiers may lack clarity about the true cost of higher education. The survey …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021