The latest unemployment numbers paint a grim picture for Charlotte. No matter how you slice it, by county or region, the Triangle now has a more stable and functional labor force.
In fact, when you lob in Durham along with Raleigh-Cary, the 741K jobs in that region for May almost matches the 750K in Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord. The metric to watch going forward will be if the QC actually gets pushed out of first-place in the state in terms of raw jobs. Certainly the Charlotte region’s 12 percent unemployment rate already looks week compared to the Triangle 8.5ish rate, not to mention the $26m. in unemployment benefits Mecklenburg received in May compared to $20m. in Wake County.
The trend is unmistakable. Fewer and fewer people are doing productive work in the region, more and more rely on government transfer payments. Charlotte has always a cadre of nearly unemployable, low-skill workers. Their numbers appear to be growing.
