State's Job Picture 'Good' Through 2014

RALEIGH, N.C. — People looking for work in North Carolina apparently will have a pretty good chance of finding a job over the next eight years, according to a new report from the state’s Employment Security Commission.

In fact, the N.C. job climate is projected to be better than the corresponding situation across the U.S., with more than 500,000 jobs to be created through the year 2014.

Fastest-growing job categories include ambulatory health-care services, administrative and support services, and Internet publishing and broadcasting. Each of the three categories will grow at more than 3 percent a year, according to the ESC.

The ESC report, which is done every two years, projects job trends over a decade. It includes statistics from 2004 to present, so 180,000 of a projected 700,000 new jobs are already in the state work force, which totaled 4.28 million as of last December.

According to the ESC, North Carolina employers are expected to increase payrolls by 17 percent from 2004-2014 in comparison with a 13 percent increase across the U.S.

“To be able to continue to add jobs at a good rate over a decade is a good thing,” said Larry Parker, a spokesperson for the ESC.

The ESC projects that job growth will be widespread as well, with employment increasing in 21 of the 22 occupational groups that the state tracks. The only category expected to decline is production workers, primarily in textiles.

North Carolina’s unemployment rate stood at 4.9 percent in December. Between December 2004 and December 2006, the state’s employed ranks grew to 4.28 million from 4.1 million.

The 12 fastest-growing job categories and annual percentage growth rate are:

• Ambulatory health-care services, 3.68%

• Administrative and support services, 3.4%

• Internet publishing and broadcasting, 3.20%

• Museums, historical sites and similar institutions, 2.91%

• Warehousing and storage, 2.81%

• Sporting goods, hobby, book and music stores, 2.8%

• Social assistance, 2.74%

• Amusement, gambling and recreation industries, 2.72%

• Support activities for transportation, 2.71%

• Scenic and sightseeing transportation, 2.66%

• Miscellaneous store retailers, 2.65%

• Truck transportation, 2.56%