Topics Related to Economic Trend

While many sectors have steadily regained employment following the COVID-19 recession, the childcare service workforce continues to face a significant shortfall. In this article, we use data from the North Carolina Common Follow-up System (CFS) to show the shortfall in childcare service employment can be primarily attributed to increased worker outflows among younger childcare workers to other higher-paying industries or out of the workforce altogether.

Which industries in North Carolina are most exposed to automation related employment disruptions? What does industry automation exposure mean for workers, workforce and economic development leaders, policymakers, and businesses? This piece examines these questions by applying automation exposure data at the industry level.

North Carolina had the 11th largest economy by gross domestic product (GDP) in the U.S. in 2018 at nearly $566 billion, increasing 2.9% from 2017 – level with U.S. GDP growth and higher than NC’s 2017 rate (2.2%). Combined, the Finance and Manufacturing sectors accounted for 38% of the state’s GDP.