State unemployment rate drops to 4.9 percent
For the first time since March 2001, the state's unemployment rate is less than 5 percent, according to figures for the month of December.
Statewide unemployment has been falling for five months now, with employment reaching its highest ever total last month, when it hit 4,141,800.
That puts North Carolina in a slightly better position than the state was in at the start of 2005, when unemployment was 5 percent. It peaked at 5.7 percent in July before beginning its slow downward trend.
December also marked the first time since January 2005 that the state's unemployment rate was equal to or better than the national rate. A year ago, the country saw a 5.2 percent unemployment rate, .2 percentage points worse than North Carolina's figure. Last month, the state and country caught up with one another and stood even.
The largest jumps in employment came from trade, transportation, warehousing and utilities, while manufacturing saw the greatest plummet - a loss of 2,400 jobs. The Employment Security Commission is reporting that last year's overall largest gains game in professional and business services.
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So what's up with Moses Cone Health System. Last week they cut benefits for their retirees and this week it comes out in the news that they were using stolen body parts. Times must be tough for a Health System that once had a $500 million dollar endowment.
Piedmont Patients May Have Received Stolen Tissue
Several area hospitals have contacted patients who may have been operated on with graft material, stolen from funeral homes.
Greensboro, NC -- Body parts stolen from human cadavers, and sold for profit without the families' knowledge.
Federal authorities are investigating human tissue distributed by a New Jersey company.
Reports surfaced some of the tissue was stolen from bodies at New England funeral homes.
The FDA launched a national recall that is affecting patients here in the Piedmont.
A letter sent to some local patients looks routine, but a closer look reveals details that might seem worrisome.
It explains how tissue and bone used in recent operations may not have been properly screened for viruses and infection. Dozens of Piedmont patients heard the news over the last few weeks.
Dr. Ward Robinson, an infectious disease specialist at Moses Cone, sent the letter to 31 patients.
"It's a series of events that have to go wrong... A huge breakdown in the process and apparently a willful breakdown in the process occurred and we felt a responsibility to inform our patients and offer them testing. At the same time we informed our patients that the likelihood of transmission was very small."
http://wfmynews2.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=54798
Wonder how the N&R and Cone will spin this one.
Posted on January 20, 2006 10:11 PM
"unemployment 4.9" I don't see anyone saying this is Bush's fault..is there no credit being givin here to our Pres.? There seems to be silence from our friends on the left...Regroup Dudes..
Posted on February 4, 2006 7:33 AM