Regional Outlook for Durham Area Counties

Community leaders in Durham, Orange, Chatham and Person counties are meeting tomorrow to get an idea of what the future holds in business, education and other sectors.

The regions in North Carolina weathering the economic storm the best these days are the Charlotte region and the counties surrounding Raleigh.  Mark Vitner is the chief economist for Wells Fargo.  He says just like the nation, the North Carolina economy is stuck in a slow-growth mode.

Mark Vitner:  "But we need to grow a whole lot faster now.   We probably need to grow between three and a half and four percent a year in order to reduce the unemployment rate. And we were hoping that we would be at that point – now!"

The good news is Durham, Orange and Chatham counties have some of the lowest jobless rates in the state.  Person County has an unemployment rate near 10-percent. Tomorrow’s Regional Outlook event is sponsored by the Triangle Business Journal.