Business North Carolina articles from February 2002

Business North Carolina archives from February 2002

Getting away. (Up Front).(Laura and Ray Gosser die in plane crash)(Obituary)
February 1, 2002... They loved that airplane. You could say they loved it to death. Laura liked her job, but she lived to travel. After she and Ray bought and fixed up the Cessna 210, it became their magic carpet. The Gossers could leave Charlotte after work...

Trend.(employment, retail sales, other indicators for North Carolina)(Brief Article)(Illustration)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... TREND EMPLOYMENT (1) Latest Previous month month Total employed (000s) 3,806.0 3,803.1 Civilian labor force...

The pinehurst experience: Convenience and a rich tradition blend to create a meeting site like no other in the world.(Pinehurst, North Carolina)
February 1, 2002... For more than a century, thousands of visitors who come each year to this tiny village tucked in the North Carolina Sandhills are touched by a wondrous, almost-palpable sensation. Site of ClubCorp's famed Pinehurst [R] Resort, the village...

Faindango: Jim Fain thinks commerce can do the fancy footwork to balance the needs of the new economy and the old. (Outlook).(Interview)
February 1, 2002... Talk about bad timing. Two months after taking office, Gov. Mike Easley picked Jim Fain as his secretary of commerce. The former banker had been the department's assistant secretary for economic development since mid-1999. The month Fain...

Can't buy me love: Tax breaks and other financial incentives attract jobs, but that doesn't mean places that get them keep them.(Bristol Compressors Inc. to close Sparta plant after receiving state, local incentives)(Cover Story)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... Local lore says you can't throw a rock in Sparta without hitting an old-time banjo picker or fiddler. On Main Street, snow sleds and Radio Flyer wagons sit in the windows of Farmers Hardware, next door to the Alleghany County courthouse. The...

Size doesn't count: Though employment statewide moved up slightly, jobs in the state's 100 largest employers shrank 4.4%. (Largest Employers).(includes ranking of top 100 for-profit state employers)(Statistical Data Included)(Illustration)
February 1, 2002... The National Bureau of Economic Research proclaimed in November that the U.S. economy had been in a recession since March. To a lot of Tar Heels, that was a blinding glimpse of the obvious. They had the pink slips to prove it. As of...

New ways don't solve old woes for farmers. (Agriculture).(tobacco marketing; employment and agricultural industry statistics)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... Almost as quickly as you can smoke a cigarette, Tar Heel tobacco farmers have changed the way they sell their leaf. About 80% skipped warehouse auctions in 2001 to sell their crops directly to cigarette makers. The year before, only 5% chose...

Wachovia battle vaults banks into a new realm. (Banking).(Bank of America ranks as top bank in North Carolina)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... First Union and SunTrust Banks went at each other last year like a couple of Spandex-clad pro wrestlers. Their tangle over which would claim Wachovia created so much snarling and scratching that it was easy to overlook all the other action in...

Builders try to nail down anything that is going up. (Construction).(overview of state's construction industry, including employment, project data)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... During the '90s, Raleigh-based Clancy & Theys Construction could focus on commercial jobs, avoiding the hassles and delays of public projects. Its home market, the Triangle, was booming. But as the economy slipped into recession, demand fell...

Manufacturers get hit hard on the home front. (Furniture).(La-Z-Boy ranks as top furniture manufacturer by 2000 revenues)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... Furniture makers say it will only be a matter of time before consumers return -- in full force. At least that's what they hope. No, pray. After a tough year, their industry has nowhere to go but up. In 2001, the industry lost more than...

'What does not kill me only makes me stronger'. (Health Care).(state of health care and health maintenance organizations in North Carolina)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... The health-care industry in North Carolina is like the patient who gets his blood pressure down only to have his angina flare up. Employers and employees are reeling from higher premiums as insurers push to make money. Most large hospitals...

Companies jettison jobs as blush fades from boom. (High - Tech).(employment woes in high-technology sector)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... Job churn is nothing new at many of the state's high-tech companies. But for much of the '90s, the talent called the shots. If a programmer left a company, someone else was typically offering him -- and, yes, they are mostly hims -- more money...

Attacks spread terror among premium payers. (Insurance).(terrorist attacks of September 11 affect insurance industry)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... Every industry says it has endured economic fallout from Sept. 11, but it's insurers that have been hit with a record-breaking $75 billion bill. "Previously, the worst insurance catastrophe was Hurricane Andrew, with about $20 billion in...

Despite ailing economy, biotechs remain healthy. (Pharmaceuticals).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... It's only fitting that the Tar Heel industry that seemed inoculated against the virus infecting the economy in 2001 was pharmaceuticals. Spurred partly by the rapid advances in human genomics, the Tar Heel drug industry managed to avoid the big...

Retailers manage to hoist their sales. (Retail).(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... Many Tar Heel merchants started the fall in a funk. A sputtering economy and the Sept. 11 attacks had them predicting a dismal Christmas. Their sales had been down in September, and, with the recession, it looked as if things could only get...

Jobs spill from ill mills and the spin they're in. (Textiles/Apparel).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... North Carolina's textile and apparel industries are unraveling. The recession has cut sales. Cheap imports have depressed prices. And slumping stocks have hobbled even the biggest companies in their attempts to raise money to expand -- or...

Terror and recession slam industry's brakes. (Transportation).(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... More than the World Trade Center towers collapsed Sept. 11. So did passenger boardings at North Carolina's biggest airports. By the end of the month, they had dropped 56% at Charlotte, 56% at Greensboro and 49% at Raleigh-Durham. Until...

Hospitality looks inward in aftermath of Sept. 11. (Travel/Tourism).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... To Paraphrase Hesiod, one of those Greeks who managed to say all the obvious stuff, timing is everything. So it was for the North Carolina beaches in 2001. Two incidents that together might have hurt coastal tourism came late enough in the year...

Consider the source: N.C. as global power. (Utilities).(North Carolina)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... In August and September, during visits to Person, Cumberland and Gaston counties, Gov. Mike Easley announced a total of $1.2 billion in investments in new natural-gas-burning electricity plants. As a site for building so-called peak-load...

Sharing the pain: No region is a refuge as layoffs spread across the state, taking their toll of both high-tech and low-skill jobs. (Regions).(employment information)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... North Carolina's recent economic success hasn't been shared evenly. The state's eastern and western reaches have long lagged Charlotte, the Triangle and the Triad, despite state incentives designed to lure businesses to less affluent counties....

Advantagewest.(employment and population information)(Brief Article)(Illustration)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... ADVANTAGEWEST POPULATION (in 000s) COUNTY 1980 1990 2000 Alleghany 9.6 9.6 10.7 Ashe 22.3 22.2 24.4 Avery 14.4 14.9 17.2 Buncombe ...

Charlotte regional partnership.(employment and population information)(Brief Article)(Illustration)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... CHARLOTTE REGIONAL PARTNERSHIP POPULATION (in 000s) COUNTY 1980 1990 1999 Alexander 25.0 27.5 33.6 Anson 25.6 23.5 25.3 Cabarrus ...

Piedmont triad partnership.(employment and population information)(Brief Article)(Illustration)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... PIEDMONT TRIAD PARTNERSHIP POPULATION (in 000s) COUNTY 1980 1990 2000 Alamance 99.3 108.2 130.8 Caswell 20.7 20.7 23.5 Davidson 113.2 126.7 147.2...

Research triangle regional partnership.(employment and population information)(Brief Article)(Illustration)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... RESEARCH TRIANGLE REGIONAL PARTNERSHIP POPULATION (in 000s) COUNTY 1980 1990 2000 Chatham 33.4 39.0 49.3 Durham 152.2 181.8 223.3 Franklin 30.1 36.4 ...

Southeast.(population and employment information)(Brief Article)(Illustration)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... SOUTHEAST POPULATION (in 000s) COUNTY 1980 1990 2000 Bladen 30.5 28.7 32.3 Brunswick 35.8 51.0 73.1 Columbus 51.0 49.6 54.7 Cumberland ...

Eastern region.(population, income, employment, retail sales numbers)(Brief Article)(Illustration)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... EASTERN REGION POPULATION (in 000s) COUNTY 1980 1990 2000 Carteret 41.1 52.4 59.4 Craven 71.0 81.8 91.4 Duplin 41.0 40.0 49.1 Edgecombe ...

Northeast partnership.(population, income, employment numbers)(Brief Article)(Illustration)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... NORTHEAST PARTNERSHIP POPULATION (in 000s) COUNTY 1980 1990 2000 Beaufort 40.4 42.3 45.0 Bertie 21.0 20.4 19.8 Camden 5.8 5.9 6.9...

County accounting: Here's a paint-by-numbers economic portrait of each of the state's 100 counties.(Illustration)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... DATA BY COUNTY COUNTY ACCOUNTING Here's a pain-by-numbers economic portrait of each of the state's 100 counties. POPULATIO Net migration Avg. annual...

North Carolina's largest cities.(Illustration)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... NORTH CAROLINA'S LARGEST CITIES CHANGE INTERNAL 2000 1990 SINCE GAIN SINCE CITY POPULATION POPULATION 1990 1990 1 Charlotte ...