From Johnson Price Sprinkle:
Asheville Metro Economic Report – 2016 Second Quarter
Highlights:
Employment growth continues in the four-county Asheville metro (Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson and Madison counties). Monthly year-to-year job growth has continued uninterrupted for six straight years. The unemployment rate remains lowest among all metros in the state. Existing home sales set a new all-time record, as did Buncombe County Hotel/Motel Sales.
• Asheville metro continued to add jobs through the second quarter of 2016, although at a slower pace than the previous year and a half. The metro area is up 2,900 more jobs than one-year earlier, earning an average growth rate of 1.6 percent.
• Despite the slowdown in the growth rate, positive monthly year-to-year job growth has continued uninterrupted for six straight years.
• Averaging 3.9 percent, Asheville metro’s average unemployment rate for the quarter is lowest among all of the state’s fifteen metros. The metro has held the lowest unemployment rate in the state for twenty-five of the last twenty-seven months.
• Second quarter job creation was concentrated in four major industry sectors. Similar to the first quarter, the Professional & Business Services sector had the strongest gains. Uncharacteristically, employment was down slightly in the Leisure & Hospitality Services sector, the first decline since early 2011.
• Private industry average weekly earnings increased 6.5 percent from a year earlier. The gain is the strongest in the last seven quarters… READ MORE
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