South By North Strategies, Ltd.

South by North Strategies In The News

South by North Strategies’ analysis of local employment conditions in April was featured in a number of media outlets.

• The News & Record: “Job growth remains stagnant”
• The News & Observer: “Jobless rate falls in Triangle”
• The Charlotte Observer: “Fewer jobless, but is it a trend?”
• The Durham Herald-Sun: “Durham jobless rate drops 0.6 points to 7.4 percent”
  

How Discouraged Are Small Businesses?

A recent survey by the Federal Reserve of Atlanta attempted to gauge whether declines in small business lending are due to reductions in supply or due to reductions in credit-worthy demand. From the bank’s blog …

Indeed, the results of our April 2010 survey suggest that demand-side factors may be the driving force behind lower levels of small business credit. To be sure, when asked about the recent obstacles to accessing credit, some firms (34 firms, or 11 percent of our sample) cited banks’ unwillingness to lend, but many more firms cited factors that may reflect low credit quality on the part of prospective borrowers. For example, 32 percent of firms cited a decline in sales over the past two years as an obstacle, 19 percent cited a high level of outstanding business or personal debt, 10 percent cited a less than stellar credit score, and 112 firms (32 percent) report no recent obstacles to credit. Perhaps not surprisingly, outside of the troubled construction and real estate industries, close to half the firms polled (46 percent) do not believe there are any obstacles while only 9 percent report unwillingness on the part of banks.

Editor’s Note

Policy Points is taking Memorial Day off. Normal posting will resume on Tuesday, June 1.

Thanks for visiting the blog!

Around The Dial – May 28

Economic policy reports, blog postings, and media stories of interest:

• The Research Triangle Regional Partnership reports on the state of the region.
• The N.C. Budget & Tax Center analyzes the Senate budget.
• TaxVox asks if the home mortgage interest deduction should be dumped.
• EPI compares median unemployment durations by state.

April Local Employment Report

Local labor market conditions across North Carolina remained weak in April, according to preliminary data released today by the Employment Security Commission. In April, 63 counties posted double-digit unemployment rates, and 23 counties recorded unemployment rates of at least 12 percent.

Every part of the state experienced weak labor markets in April. Unemployment rates exceeded 10 percent in 63 counties, and in 23 counties, at least 12 percent of the labor force was jobless and actively seeking work. County unemployment rates ranged from 5.8 percent in Currituck County to 15.8 percent in Scotland County.

Last month, unemployment rates fell in all 14 of the state’s metropolitan areas, and every metro but Rocky Mount netted jobs. Nevertheless, five metros posted double-digit unemployment rates. The Hickory-Morganton-Lenoir area had the highest unemployment rate (13.3 percent) followed by Rocky Mount (13 percent). The lowest metro unemployment rate was 7.2 percent in Durham-Chapel Hill.

Click here to read South by North Strategies’ full analysis of the April report.