N.C. jobless rate of 13% forecast

BY JONATHAN B. COX – STAFF WRITER
Published: Tue, Jul. 07, 2009 02:00AMModified Tue, Jul. 07, 2009

RALEIGH — Mike Walden, an economist at N.C. State University, predicts North Carolina unemployment will peak at 13 percent in the first quarter of 2010, according to a forecast released Monday.

It will fall through the rest of the year at a faster clip than the nation overall and match the national unemployment rate of 10.3 percent by the end of 2010, Walden wrote. He expects the highest rates in early 2010 in Charlotte and the Triad. The Triangle will have the lowest peak rate.

Musical chairs – More Jobs = More Career Paths

By Kevin Austin (Yadkin County Chairman)

If we’ve heard it once, we’ve heard it a thousand times. “Too many young people leave Yadkin County never to return.” It’s always the same complaint. Only the reasons cited show any variation at all.

The favorite reason people tend to give is, “we are a small, backward county with nothing to offer young people.” Well, that is a pretty broad and damning statement, but buried in it are some elements of truth including what I believe to be the real reason: a shortage of career path opportunities.

Please allow me to back up for just a second. Not all the young people leave Yadkin County. Not even all of the highly qualified young people. There are plenty of young professionals in Yadkin County, the great majority of them home grown.

But there is a problem of opportunities in Yadkin County.

Lower Demand, Bigger Shortfall: even with $33M loss, Unifi says it is poised to ride out recession

By Richard Craver | Journal Reporter

Published: May 1, 2009

Softer consumer demand for its premium yarns led to a larger quarterly loss for Unifi Inc. in its third quarter, the yarn manufacturer reported yesterday.

The company, based in Greensboro, reported a $33 million loss in the quarter, which ended March 29. By comparison, Unifi had net income of $12,000 in the third quarter of 2008.

Unifi said that its sales were down 30 percent to $119.1 million, affected primarily by a decline in demand as customers tried to sell excess inventory in the quarter.

The manufacturer also took a noncash charge of $18.6 million in the quarter to write off goodwill value associated with its purchase of Dillon Yarns in 2007.

Higher raw-material costs also affected expenses.

http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2009/may/01/lower-demand-bigger-shortfall/business-area/

Reynolds reports decline in first-quarter net income

JOURNAL REPORTER

Published: April 29, 2009

Updated: 04/29/2009 01:21 pm

A substantial charge taken to reflect lower trademark values for some nongrowth cigarette and smokeless brands contributed to Reynolds American Inc. posting just $8 million in net income for the first quarter today.

The trademark impairment charge of $453 million, which the company said was noncash, contributed to a $285 million decline in net income.

Diluted earnings were 3 cents a share compared with $1.71 a share a year ago. The earnings from the first quarter of 2008 included a gain of 71 cents from the dissolution of Reynolds’ Gallaher joint venture.

Excluding the trademark charge, Reynolds reported $293 million in net income and diluted earnings of $1 a share – the same earnings as a year ago.

http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2009/apr/29/291321/reynolds-reports-decline-first-quarter-net-income/business-area/

PPG cutting 110 jobs in Triad

By Richard Craver | Journal Reporter

Published: April 28, 2009

A Davidson County manufacturing plant received another in a long line of employment blows yesterday.

PPG Industries Inc. said that it is eliminating 110 jobs, or 26 percent, of the work force at its fiberglass plant in Lexington. The job cuts will be effective June 30, spokesman Jeremy Neuhart said.

When the work-force reduction is done, the plant will have about 310 employees — or about 1,000 fewer than it had in June 1998. The plant experienced a 400-job cut in August 2001 and several smaller job cuts over the past 11 years.

http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2009/apr/28/ppg-cutting-110-jobs-in-triad/business/

 

Hanesbrands will shed 440 local jobs

By Richard Craver | Journal Reporter

Published: April 28, 2009

A fourth major hometown job cut, affecting 440 employees, will leave Hanesbrands Inc. with barely half of the Forsyth County work force it began independent life with in 2006.

The company is eliminating 200 jobs at its headquarters at 1000 E. Hanes Mill Road. Most of those employees in finance, human resources, sales and marketing and supply-chain management will be let go by the end of the week, spokesman Matt Hall said.

http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2009/apr/28/hanesbrands-will-shed-440-local-jobs/news/

 

Wal-Mart adding 3,000 N.C. jobs

Wal-Mart will add 3,000 new jobs in North Carolina in 2009, the company’s general manager for the Carolinas David Carmon announced Wednesday.

Wal-Mart expects healthy growth throughout the second two quarters of the year. “In a time when many are suffering, we want North Carolinians to know that we are here to stay,” Carmon said in a written statement issued by the company.

The company operates 21 stores in the Triad and employed 9,700 people locally as of Aug. 22, according to Business Journal research. Wal-Mart did not provide a breakdown of how many of the new jobs would be in the Triad.

The company employs more than 51,000 people at 155 locations across the state, making it the largest employer in North Carolina.

Wednesday the N.C. Wal-Mart Foundation’s State Giving Council of North Carolina announced that it had awarded more than $7 million to nonprofits in the state in 2008. Two Triad groups received grants, the Hospice Palliative Care of Greensboro and the Winston-Salem Street School. The amounts of the grants were not available.

Number not what is seems; small rise in N.C.’s jobless rate comes with a caveat, experts say

By Richard Craver | Journal Reporter

Published: April 18, 2009

The slight increase in the North Carolina’s unemployment rate to 10.8 percent in March may appear a welcome breather given that the rate has doubled in the past year.

However, economists cautioned yesterday that the state . likely hasn’t seen a peak in its unemployment rate, and that the 0.1 percentage-point increase was likely caused by nearly 31,000 people no longer being considered as unemployed.

The increase — reported yesterday by the N.C. Employment Security Commission — continued the streak of setting a new monthly high for the unemployment rate. The commission said that unemployment rates before 1976 were not seasonally adjusted, so it is not comparable to data published in the past 33 years.

When it comes to determining the rate, the commission primarily counts people who are without a job and actively looking for work. For example, the state has had a near doubling of people considered as unemployed in the past year to 492,512 — just a 2,417 increase in March.

http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2009/apr/18/number-not-what-is-seems/news-ncpolitics/