41.3% of the Unifour's Population Works (Revised with December data)

When I did these numbers originally I compared Workforce versus Population. I should have compared Employed versus Total Population. The actual number of employed vs Total Population in Catawba County is right at 42.5%.

I have done some more statistical analyzes of our area. These numbers do have some extrapolations, since our last guesstimates on population were presented for January 1, 2007. But, by rounding the numbers I feel that it is safe to say that we are very close to the numbers represented in this analysis.

The latest unemployment data presented by the St Louis Federal Reserve was for December 1, 2008. New data should be coming out in the next couple days. The last data was released on February 12, 2009. The population of the Unifour area is right around 367,000 people, up from 293,000 people in 1990

Look at the numbers of total citizens versus those that are actually employed. As of 12/1/2008, the population has increased by 20.24% in the Unifour since 1990, but we have lost 7% of our jobs during that time period.

In July 2000 the Unifour hit its Zenith as far as Employed Workforce Population is concerned. There were 183,838 people employed in the workforce, since then we have seen our area's workforce fall by nearly 29,000 people. From 1990 to 2000 we had added over 21,000 people to local payrolls. Our reversal in fortunes is directly attributable to the dismantling of our manufacturing based economy, especially after the decimation brought about after the dot.com-cable bust.

Look at the numbers and see that Alexander County is the only County whose employment numbers have grown over the last 19 years. I believe that is because these people want to be near the heart of the Hickory Metro without having to pay the taxes. I believe a lot of this growth is from the Bethlehem area, but that is an anecdotal interpretation.

It is terrible to see what Burke and Caldwell County have gone through since 1990. Burke County has lost 13.6% of its jobs, while Caldwell County has lost over 15% of its jobs. Burke County is struggling to show any signs of population growth over the last few years and Caldwell County isn't fairing much better. According to employment statistics, Caldwell County is the worst off in the region, the only bright spot being the Grace Chapel area near Hickory, which seems to be doing fairly well. But once again, I have to say that is anecdotal evidence.

What do these numbers show? Well, one interpretation is pretty much self explanatory. We have seen our traditional manufacturing job base devastated without question. But, I also believe we have seen a perfect storm of circumstances that are leading us down a path that honestly could send us into third world status. We must reinvent this community to survive and there are right ways and wrong ways to go about doing so.

The Unifour's population has increased by nearly 74,000 people and most of that is attributable to the growth of Catawba County. It is just too bad that there hasn't been the growth in industry to keep pace with population growth.

Harry Hipps makes some excellent points about the demographics of our population growth issue, in the article 47% (really 42.5%) of Catawba County's Population Works:

"First, the average household income (last statistics I saw was 2006) showed that we had a two income household making $67,000 a year. Catawba County recently stated that by 2025 six out of ten people in Catawba Co. will be over 65. The average Social Security check is $1000 per month so you can see that the income for 60% of us is going to drop by almost 2/3s. In addition, health care is rising more than general inflation and taking our disposable income and the strength of our Federal gov't and the future of the SS system is questionable. If there is a crisis in Social Security where does that leave us? And what does our economy look like when 60% of us are living on this reduced income?"

We cannot build our Economy on Fixed Income Economics. We have to attach ourselves to growth industries and we all know that the elderly are naturally risk-averse and not looking toward long-term investment or what might be termed as somewhat risky.

We must diversify our economy, especially demographically. Let's challenge ourselves to bring in a younger demographic. Once we do develop some new industry, we need to recruit young people who will not look at our community as a stepping stone, but will be willing to grow with it. That is the reason why we need to retain the best and the brightest that have been raised in this area.

What good does it do to develop youth as gifted students and then watch them gravitate to other communities? We must do something to get these young up and comers to stay at home. We must develop industries that challenge these young people to give the Unifour a look when choosing where they want to advance their professional careers. That, my friends, is the key to turning our community around.

Unifour Employed vs Total Population - Click the link to see the spreadsheet