The Tar Heel State lost a bigger percentage of jobs, 1.1%, than any other state from October to November 2008, shedding 46,000 positions, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A record number of people in the state are now out of work, and its unemployment rate of 7.9% for November was the highest in 26 years, up from 7.1% in October and 4.7% in November 2007. Some state economic observers are predicting double-digit unemployment for 2009.
The story correctly notes some of the larger economic trends at work that have hit North Carolina hard.
But it also is worth noting that policymakers in North Carolina could take steps to improve the state’s climate for entrepreneurs and investment. On SBE Council’s recently-released “Small Business Survival Index 2008,” which ranks the 50 states and District of Columbia according to their public policy environments for entrepreneurship, North Carolina ranked a poor 39th, or 13th worst.
What troubles the state? Well, among negatives are high personal income and individual capital gains taxes; imposition of a state death tax; fairly high unemployment taxes; a large number of health insurance mandates that drive up costs; a high crime rate; a large number of state and local government employees; and high gas and diesel taxes.
Those are all measures that elected officials can change for the better. If they choose to do so, North Carolina’s economy will only benefit.
Raymond J. Keating
Chief Economist
Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council
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