National Skills Coalition

John Quinterno of South by North Strategies, Ltd. recently was named to the National Leadership Council of the National Skills Coalition. Based in Washington, D.C., the organization is a “coalition of coalitions” that advocates for public investments in the skills of the American workforce. The Leadership Council serves to develop and articulate the common skills agenda around which the coalition and its members organize and advocate.

Quinterno is one of two North Carolinians serving on the council in 2010. He is joined by Anne Bacon of the NC Rural Economic Development Center.

North Carolina’s “Job Gap”

A front-page story in yesterday’s issue of The Durham Herald-Sun asks just how big of a “job gap” North Carolina is facing.  The piece draws heavily on the work of South by North Strategies, Ltd., especially its research into labor market conditions.

Unemployment Insurance Solvency

The current issue of Triangle Business Journal contains an overview of the issues related to the Employment Security Commission of North Carolina’s borrowing from the federal government to pay unemployment insurance benefits. Once conditions stabilize, steps will need to be taken to rebuild system solvency, and tax matters will come into play. On that topic, the article featured the perspective of South by North Strategies:

“At some point, it’ll have to go up. We’ll have to rebuild the solvency of the system,” says John Quinterno, who writes on public policy issues for Chapel Hill-based South by North Strategies. “This is one of those things you don’t have to deal with yet since you are getting the money to pay the benefits. On this one, credit the feds; they have kept things running.”

A Tattered Safety Net

In a story about the use of North Carolina’s “Work First” program during the recession, The Charlotte Observer included the perspective of John Quinterno of South by North Strategies.

From the article:

John Quinterno, a social-policy consultant in Chapel Hill, noted that food stamp and unemployment insurance caseloads have been exploding during the recession, but Work First hasn’t.
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‘What we’re seeing around the country with the recession is that this program, the way it’s been reformed, really doesn’t serve as a safety net anymore,’ he said. ‘There are some hard questions that need to be asked.’

North Carolina’s Changing Workforce

Yesterday, John Quinterno of South by North Strategies, Ltd. addressed the first meeting of the Joint Select Committee on Work and Family Balance of the North Carolina General Assembly. Quinterno briefed legislators on the long-term changes to the state’s workforce, particularly the increasing labor force engagement of female North Carolinians. The presentation is below.

The Wages of Re-employment

A recent story in The Charlotte Observer looks the issues that are driving increasing numbers of jobless workers to accept jobs that pay less than their previous ones. This is a function of weak labor market conditions. As South by North Strategies’ John Quinterno explained in the piece:

“You reach a point where, for some folks, they pretty much have to make the choice that some job is better than no job, even if they have to take a cut in pay or benefits,” said analyst John Quinterno of Chapel Hill research firm South by North Strategies Ltd.

Later in the same piece, he elaborated further:

Quinterno, the Chapel Hill analyst, said job seekers are becoming increasingly desperate. There are more than six candidates for every available position nationwide – and that means they’ll have limited bargaining power when it comes to salary, he said.

Understanding Local Labor Markets

News outlets across North Carolina turned to South by North Strategies to understand the latest local employment data.

• The News & Observer: “Local jobless rate dips”
• The Winston Salem-Journal: “Triad jobs hard to find”
• The High Point Enterprise: “November unemployment remains high”
• Richmond County Daily Journal: “Local jobless rate drops”
• The News & Record: “Triad’s jobless rate remains high”
• WCHL Radio (Chapel Hill): “NC unemployment rate holds steady”
• WPTF Radio (Raleigh): Interview on “Live@5 News Hour”

NC’s Economy: 2009 in Review

In a recent cover story, The Asheville (N.C.) Citizen-Times reviewed the economic trends that buffeted North Carolina, especially its western region, during 2009 and asked what 2010 might hold for businesses, individuals, and communities. Along with other experts, the piece featured the perspective of South by North Strategies’  John Quinterno.

Said the article about the strength of an economic recovery:

“Unfortunately, although there have been signs of improvement in the economy, no one can say with complete confidence just when the bad times will end — or what the ‘new normal’ on the other side of the recession will be.
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‘Talk of an economic recovery is exaggerated,’ said John Quinterno, head of South by North Strategies, an economic research and communications firm based in Chapel Hill. ‘I do think conditions are better than they were six months ago or a year ago. That’s not really saying much.’

And said the article about the current state of the labor market:

The figures understate the ills in the local job market as some people are not counted as unemployed because they have simply given up looking for work.
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They also don’t reveal the psychological impact joblessness has on people in a culture in which, according to Quinterno, people tend to view being unemployed as the fault of an individual rather than reflective of problems in the economy as a whole.
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Being without work ‘goes to people’s self-worth and dignity,” Quinterno said. ‘It’s nonmonetary, but it has a huge, devastating impact on people.’