Stay Informed!

By Bill Schweke on 04/17/2007 @ 04:14 PM

Tags: Ideas in Development, Economic Development, North Carolina

For The North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center

Introduction

That North Carolina has been hit hard during the recent recession is news to no one. The state has seen a record number of jobs lost, plants closed, and mass layoffs as its traditional manufacturing base restructures and moves abroad. More than a quarter of the state's manufacturing base disappeared (about 219,800 jobs) between 1990 to late 2003.1

Admittedly, such economic dislocation is an inherent feature of market economies. Entrepreneurs are driven to innovate; this process of “creative destruction,” in the words of Joseph Schumpeter, is “the essential fact about capitalism.” Automation, increased trade, new product development, and outsourcing raise productivity, foster competition, create new jobs domestically, and spur income growth. But plant closings, mass layoffs, and economic dislocation inevitably accompany these processes. Overall, more persons benefit from such change than lose. But some communities, workers, firms, and shareholders are harmed, and those who lose opportunities and wealth due to economic restructuring are concentrated in certain industries and certain areas of the state.

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