DMJPS is pleased to provide the first quarter 2025 economic update across North Carolina’s fifteen metro areas. The state’s economic indicators indicate continued job growth and consumer spending. Employment gains were recorded across most major industries, but unemployment in some areas, such as Asheville, reflects lingering challenges.
Highlights:
In the first quarter of 2025, North Carolina’s employment averaged 5,034,100, an increase of 67,300 new jobs year over year.
By metro, Goldsboro led the first quarter of employment growth, with a 3.2 percent increase compared to the previous year.
By major industry, first quarter employment gains were led by Education and Health Services with an estimated 21,100 new jobs year-over-year.
North Carolina’s unemployment rate averaged 3.8 percent in the first quarter, translating to just over 200,000 unemployed North Carolinians, an increase of 2.6 percent compared to the previous year.
Among the state’s fifteen metros, Asheville recorded the highest unemployment rate at 5.4 percent, reflecting continued impacts of Hurricane Helene.
Residential building permit activity totaled just over 23,400 units in the first quarter with a value of $5.7 billion, which was down 4.8 percent.
Taxable retail sales in North Carolina totaled $57 billion in the first quarter, representing a moderate increase of 2.6 percent year-over-year.
Special feature, Health Insurance Coverage Status: In North Carolina, 9.2 percent of the noninstitutionalized population was estimated to be uninsured in 2023, a considerable improvement in coverage compared to 2013, when the percentage of uninsured was nearly 16 percent.
Detailed Analysis: Employment
North Carolina’s employment averaged 5,034,100 jobs in the first quarter of 2025, marking the second highest quarterly average on record, down slightly from the previous quarter’s average 5,064,100. The state’s first quarter year-over-year increase of 1.4 percent exceeded the national average of 1.3 percent (Figure 1).
Figure 1 North Carolina Total Nonfarm Employment Monthly Year-to-Year Percent Change
Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics All Employees,Total Nonfarm, retrieved from Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
In the first quarter of 2025, Goldsboro (+3.2 percent), Raleigh (+2.0 percent), and Wilmington (+2.0 percent) led the state metros in employment growth (Figure 2), continuing a pattern seen in the previous quarter. Twelve of the state’s fifteen metros experienced year-over-year employment gains while growth in six metros outpaced the state average of 1.4 percent: Winston-Salem, Durham-Chapel Hill, Charlotte, Wilmington, Raleigh, and Goldsboro...READ MORE
DMJPS PLLC, a Top 200 U.S. tax, assurance, and advisory firm headquartered in Greensboro, NC, proudly announces that Potter & Company, P.A., based in the Charlotte Metro region, will join the firm effective July 1.
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