Hint - What you’re being told is wrong.
I launched Cape Fear Jobs in March 2016 because no one was talking about the local job market.
Employers across the region were looking everywhere for talent, and job seekers far and wide were desperately seeking gainful employment. Two years later some things never change, except for the fact that now, people are talking about the job market. I believe in informing the employers, job seekers and citizens of this great region with truth. I do not have a political agenda, so when I hear rhetoric at any level about how great the unemployment rate is sparks my passion.
Continually published by the state and local government, the unemployment rate is around a mere four percent. Great news! Unemployment is at a multi-year low!
Well, is it?
Don’t get too excited, because it’s not, at least not here. Numbers from the state are as jaded as the GenX reports we get for our water. The four percent is touted as a victory by local leaders that shout it from the top of the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, but that number is simply determined by the number of people who walk through the doors of the rebranded State Employment Office and nothing more.
So, what is the real rate? I’m not a big believer in analytics, numbers, rates, etc. I believe in what the people tell me and I believe in what my eyes and ears tell me – what the employers are saying they need and what the job seekers are saying they are looking for. And that number is far more than four percent. It’s more like 20 percent and that, folks, is being conservative.
Let’s start by looking at who is not included in the four-percent unemployment rate – groups of people making up over 50 percent of our entire population of the Cape Fear Region:
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