“Everybody” says the economy is improving, and has been for years. Jake Frankel at the Mountain Xpress tells us something more plausible:
A pair of recent interactive info-graphics published by the New York Times and Wall Street Journal highlight troublesome economic statistics for Buncombe County.
About 22 percent of Buncombe men in their prime working years (considered to be between the ages of 25 and 54) don’t have jobs, according to the New York Times. That compares to 16 percent of men nationally, which is about triple what it was in 1968.
Most counties in Western North Carolina have a higher percentage of men out of the work force than the national average. Swain County tops the list, with 34 percent of male residents between 25 and 54 years old out of work, according to the Times.
