Regional Matters
According to a survey conducted in November 2018, many Fifth District businesses plan on increasing employment in the next year and are generally offering higher starting wages for at least some job types.
Although changes in educational attainment, employment status, and median earnings were inconsistent across Fifth District jurisdictions in 2017, most saw lower unemployment and higher median earnings.
Despite increases in coverage overall and some remarkable gains in states like West Virginia, there are still geographic disparities in the rates of insurance coverage, particularly in states that did not expand Medicaid.
While about half of the firms surveyed expected negative impacts to their own businesses and to the U.S. economy, there was a good portion of firms that believed the tariffs would be good for the overall U.S. economy, even if their firms would not directly benefit.
Ride-sharing services have been competing with the taxi industry and encountering regulatory spats, yet they have grown markedly, particularly around the District of Columbia.
Natural gas production has experienced tremendous growth over the last decade in the U.S. and West Virginia and continues to grow. In West Virginia, six new pipeline projects have been proposed. How will these pipelines service the natural gas market, and how long until they are in service? What has the impact been on job growth and wages?
In April, we surveyed firms about their adoption of technology and how it might translate into prices and employment in the next few years. Most firms reported adopting new technology, although many did not anticipate the technology to notably impact their pricing or employment decisions.
Charlotte, N.C., has the most diverse industrial mix of any Fifth District city. What causes industry diversity in cities?
Revised employment data show fewer jobs added in the Fifth District than originally reported. By December 2017 (the most recent month revised), total employment was revised lower by 75,300 jobs or 0.5 percent.
December 2017 marked the 10-year anniversary of the start of the economic downturn which would ultimately evolve into the Great Recession. As bad as the Great Recession was nationally, South Carolina's descent into the trough was steeper. And its recovery has been more impressive, particularly in the Charleston and Upstate regions.