Brent Lane, director of the UNC Center for Competitive Economies, is a straight-talking, no-nonsense personality and this week he minced no words with Legislators in an appropriations meeting for Natural and Economic Resources. North Carolina, he said, is in the doldrums and dropping further down each day. His statistics were disconcerting.
Wages are down in all areas except arts and entertainment and agriculture when compared to U.S. averages. Financial sector salaries are down by 23 percent and even healthcare personnel in N.C. are earning less. In only three counties in the state are workers earnings matching the U.S. average. Since 2008, our wages have fallen from 92.8 percent of U.S. per capita income to 87 percent. If our trend continues, we will be earning 79 percent of national income average in 2014 which is where we were in 1969.
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