Tagged: NC Department of Commerce

North Carolina’s jobless rate may not be anything to cheer about, but the state’s job growth is getting some applause. 

The state’s unemployment rate was 9.5 percent in January.  It's one of the highest in the nation, hovering hovered around that amount for the past year. The national rate sits at 7.9 percent.

North Carolina’s list of top international trading partners is showing growth from Central and South America.

Leoneda Inge:  The country with the largest percentage of growth is Brazil.  Since last year, North Carolina exports there increased by 37-percent from the year before.  Brazil ranks number 10 on the state’s list of top business partners.  Jean Davis heads international trade for the state Commerce Department.   She just returned from a meeting in San Juan and says Central and South America is a real target.

North Carolina is manufacturing, selling and shipping a record number of goods according to latest numbers.  

Leoneda Inge:  Governor Bev Perdue’s office says North Carolina shipped 27-billion dollars in merchandise last year, a record.   It’s eight-percent higher than the year before.  And it’s 60 percent higher than a decade ago.  Derek Chen is the Director of Foreign Operations for the state Commerce Department.  He says the growth is phenomenal.

Thousands of North Carolina residents have been notified that their extended unemployment benefits will expire by the end of the week.

Leoneda Inge:  Notices were sent out to 17-thousand unemployed workers, informing them of the bad news.  The extended jobless benefits from the state kicked-in four years ago, during the recession.  But because of the steady drop in North Carolina’s unemployment rate, the extended benefits, or E-B trigger has stopped.  Larry Parker is a spokesman for the Commerce Department’s Division of Employment Security.