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Regional Matters

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These posts examine local, regional and national data that matter to the Fifth District economy and our communities.

October 31, 2024

Telehealth offers a potential opportunity to support health care access in rural communities, but the digital divide in access to broadband and devices shows that these underserved communities face lower access to health care.

October 25, 2024

Since Hurricane Helene's devastation last month, we have kept a pulse on the Fifth District's economic impact and how the communities are doing in the storm's aftermath.

October 11, 2024

Hurricane Helene brought catastrophic damage to Fifth District communities, presenting challenges to the long recovery ahead.

September 19, 2024

Although the communities surrounding universities experienced some shielding effects from previous recessions, the unemployment rate actually increased in these areas following the COVID-19 recession.

September 12, 2024

South Carolina's recruitment of a Boeing assembly plant to North Charleston in the late 2000s boosted the state's aerospace sector and Charleston's local labor market over the subsequent decade.

September 5, 2024

The pace of hiring has recently slowed in Virginia, but month-over-month growth in the state continues to outpace the national rate, reversing much of the trend of slower growth seen in the post-COVID-19 expansion.

August 29, 2024

Customer spending in the Fifth District has been on a decline according to results from the Richmond Fed's business surveys. This pullback was especially true among lower-income individuals.

August 27, 2024

The Fed's Small Business Credit Survey monitors small business credit access across the United States. Available data for Virginia, Washington, D.C., and North Carolina show broad similarities to national trends — and a few differences.

August 22, 2024

Data from Fed Communities' Banking Deserts Dashboard show how in-person banking access changed in the Fifth District from 2019 to 2023.

Surekha Carpenter, Disha Dureja and Avani Pradhan

August 15, 2024

Rural areas were hit hard with labor shortages during COVID-19, more so than their urban counterparts. However, the tides have turned with rural wage growth now exceeding that of urban areas.

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