Research & Data
Types
Featured
Topics
Economy for All 2026: An evening of connection and collective imagination
Community members, advocates, workers, and policy leaders gathered in Durham for the NC Budget & Tax Center’s (BTC) Economy for All 2026 on Jan. 22, an evening grounded in a shared belief that North Carolina’s economy should value each of our humanity and provide real opportunity for everyone. Watch a recording of Economy for All 2026 and see photos from the event here. The night began…
New labor market page shows why NC’s economy isn’t working for everyone
Every day, North Carolinians contribute their collective labor to keep our communities functioning and thriving. At the NC Budget & Tax Center, we believe that everyone — no matter what they look like or where they are born — should be able to find fulfilling work that allows them to meet their basic needs and…
NC Budget & Tax Center launches new labor market data page ahead of Labor Day
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Aug. 28, 2025 RALEIGH — Every day, North Carolinians contribute their labor to keep our communities functioning and thriving. Yet too many workers still struggle to find fulfilling work, earn a living wage, and meet their basic needs. To shine a light on these challenges, this Labor Day weekend, the NC Budget…
Fact Sheet: Federal workers are vital to North Carolina’s economy
Elon Musk and the Trump administration are illegally firing federal employees who serve NC veterans, seniors, farmers, and small businesses, keep our food, water, airlines, national parks, and workplaces safe, and carry out critical medical research, weather forecasting, emergency response, disaster relief, and national security missions. Federal employees and their families are also our neighbors…
Federal COVID aid helped reduce racial employment gaps, but a lot of work still to do in NC
With all of the focus on inflation over the past few years, an important and instructive story has often been lost in the noise. Unlike past recoveries when the effects of a recession linger much longer for workers of color, the strong economic growth fueled by federal COVID-aid has dramatically reduced the employment gap between white and Black workers nationwide.
NC jobs up and inflation still slowing, but rising interest rates are cause for caution
First, today’s state employment report showed continued growth. North Carolina added around 32,000 jobs in the first two months of 2023, continuing a nearly uninterrupted streak of monthly job gains dating back to the first few months of the pandemic. That puts North Carolina nearly 260,000 jobs above pre-pandemic levels, and the unemployment rate dipped to 3.6 percent.
That’s all good news, but today’s jobs figures don’t capture any fallout from recent upheaval in the banking system.
Slowing job growth and gaping holes in the recovery clear in new NC employment figures
After revising data for the past few years, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released employment figures for January of 2023 this week. The new data paint a clearer picture of how hiring slowed last year and where the economic recovery from COVID-19 remains incomplete. We’re still seeing decent jobs growth, but many communities and public services are being left behind in North Carolina.
Late 2022 job growth in NC concentrated in metro areas, while many counties still facing challenges
Job growth in North Carolina is heavily concentrated in a few major metropolitan areas.
With interest rates falling and job growth slowing, North Carolina workers face an uncertain 2023
The Federal Reserve did what most market watchers expected and hiked interest rates yesterday, bringing the federal benchmark to 4.4 percent, the highest rate in 15 years. The size of the hike was smaller than the last several rounds as it appears Fed policy is finally taking some of the sting out of inflation. But…
NC leaders still need to extend more aid, but inflation is easing as hiring remains strong
For the first time since costs started shooting up last year, the annual rate of inflation in the South has now come down for four months in a row. After hitting a peak in June, the annual pace of inflation has fallen to just over 8 percent in the South, and overall prices in the South actually went down in October.