RALEIGH So far in 2017, North Carolina is adding jobs at a slower pace than the national and regional averages. Thats a noticeable change from recent trends but its a reason only for concern, not for panic or pontification.
Through July, the states economy has added about 32,000 net new jobs this year, with total employment growing by 0.7 percent. Thats a rate of increase lower than the national average (0.9 percent) and the average of the 12 Southeastern states (1.1 percent). During 2016, by contrast, North Carolinas rate of job growth exceeded both averages. The same is true for the longer-term trend, measured from 2012 to 2016.
Republicans might like to pin our job-creation slowdown on Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, who took office in January. But that would be premature. Regardless of whether you like Coopers picks or policies, its too soon for them to have affected significantly a state economy estimated at $530 billion in goods and services.
Democrats might like to blame the Republican legislatures conservative fiscal and regulatory policies, which began in 2011 and then dramatically expanded in 2013. But that would be logically incoherent. Did these policies first boost North Carolinas job-creation rate above the national and regional averages, and then suddenly pull it down in 2017?
Moreover, it would be odd to attempt to disprove the economic benefits of smaller government, lower taxes, and less-burdensome regulation by pointing to the higher employment growth being enjoyed by regional competitors such as Florida, Georgia and Tennessee, as these states rank even higher than North Carolina does on measures of economic freedom.
So trying to turn the states relatively weak performance in job growth since the beginning of the year into a political bludgeon is unjustified and unhelpful.
I would similarly urge North Carolinians against panic. The future of the state, and the prosperity of its residents, can be neither measured nor determined in seven-month increments of time. We face significant challenges, due primarily to structural changes in the national and international economy. Some jobs and industries that were viable in the past are no longer viable and politicians who tell you otherwise are fooling you, themselves, or both.
What we should focus on is a comprehensive, long-term strategy for encouraging sustained economic growth. Governors and legislatures dont control the money supply, set trade policy, or run fiscal deficits. They affect economic growth by influencing the creation and deployment of valuable capital assets that make it much easier and less expensive to produce goods and services, make those goods and services much higher in quality, or some combination of the two.
Some of these assets are physical ones. Others are forms of human capital, such as the education and skills of workers and entrepreneurs or the social trust that allows households and businesses to make plans and strike deals with confidence.
Governments clearly have a role to play in building and maintaining physical assets such as highways. Governments also have a role to play in human capital, such as funding schools and establishing a fair and consistent system for enforcing contracts and adjudicating disputes.
But most capital assets are privately created, privately owned, and privately managed. The private sector is the lead actor in the story of economic growth and job creation, with the public sector playing an important but supporting role. Fiscal conservatives never forget that when governments collect taxes to spend on a public program, that removes dollars from the pockets of their original owners, at least partially supplanting an investment that would otherwise be made voluntarily and skillfully.
North Carolinas future rests on wise investment by both the public and private sector, with a strong emphasis on the latter and on innovators hatching new ideas and turning them into new industries.
State leaders have prudently built up the governments cash reserves, just in case the current slowdown in job-creation rates leads to something worse. More importantly, however, they have enacted policies to welcome and foster private investment in North Carolina over time.
John Hood is chairman of the John Locke Foundation and appears on the talk show NC SPIN. You can follow him @JohnHoodNC.
Read more:
Hood: Focus on long-term growth - Henderson Daily Dispatch
- Patriots For Economic Freedom - December 8th, 2016 [December 8th, 2016]
- Fiscal Freedom and Financial Literacy Campaign :: City of ... - December 30th, 2016 [December 30th, 2016]
- To see how a bill becomes law, follow the money - News Sentinel - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Economy to grow more than 7 per cent next fiscal: Shaktikanta Das - The Indian Express - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Making the case for an RBI rate cut - Livemint - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Cotton Calls for a $26B Uptick in Planned Defense Supplemental - USNI News - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Making A FOIA Request Is About To Get Tougher At FBI - Daily Caller - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Guest Article: Capitulation before the First Shots Are Fired - Somewhat Reasonable - Heartland Institute (blog) - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- U.S. Air Force extended some 800 million yen in funds to 128 ... - The Mainichi - February 8th, 2017 [February 8th, 2017]
- Greece and the Folly of Trying to Solve an Overspending Problem with Tax Increases - People's Pundit Daily - February 8th, 2017 [February 8th, 2017]
- Hill Republicans quake at Trump's budget-busting wish list - Politico - February 8th, 2017 [February 8th, 2017]
- Key conservative open to insurer payments during ObamaCare transition - The Hill - February 8th, 2017 [February 8th, 2017]
- Historic audit of illegitimate debts - Inquirer.net - February 8th, 2017 [February 8th, 2017]
- Fiscal Freedom: How Tax Burden Affects Economic Freedom - February 8th, 2017 [February 8th, 2017]
- Police Criticized as Violence Continues in Brazil's City of Vitria - The Rio Times - February 9th, 2017 [February 9th, 2017]
- Business divided on Malloy budget - CT Post - February 9th, 2017 [February 9th, 2017]
- The United Kingdom and the Benefits of Spending Restraint - Cato Institute (blog) - February 9th, 2017 [February 9th, 2017]
- Trump Threatens to Cut Off Government Funds to Universities, and Why Not? - PanAm Post - February 10th, 2017 [February 10th, 2017]
- For Philly Cops Already Awash in Overtime Pay, Another Boost -- Thanks to Trump - NBC 10 Philadelphia - February 10th, 2017 [February 10th, 2017]
- Fiscal Freedom | Prometheism.net - Part 2 - February 10th, 2017 [February 10th, 2017]
- Personal finance lessons from the Budget - Hindu Business Line - February 11th, 2017 [February 11th, 2017]
- The United Kingdom and the Benefits of Spending Restraint - People's Pundit Daily - February 12th, 2017 [February 12th, 2017]
- MEL STA. MARIA | The 1987 Freedom Constitution should not be changed - InterAksyon - February 12th, 2017 [February 12th, 2017]
- Venezuela now leads US asylum requests as crisis deepens - Philly.com - February 12th, 2017 [February 12th, 2017]
- Promoting fiscal discipline - Daily Excelsior - February 12th, 2017 [February 12th, 2017]
- The GOP's Big Tax Dilemma: Repealing Obamacare Taxes - The Fiscal Times - February 13th, 2017 [February 13th, 2017]
- Why Liberty Advocates Should Focus on Spending Restraint over Tax Hikes - PanAm Post - February 13th, 2017 [February 13th, 2017]
- What the papers say: Britain's soaring EU budget bill shows Brexit can't happen soon enough - Spectator.co.uk (blog) - February 14th, 2017 [February 14th, 2017]
- Meet The Venezuelan-Born Mom Who Ran For State Senate To Stop Socialism - The Federalist - February 14th, 2017 [February 14th, 2017]
- GOP defense hawks barely squawked on Mulvaney nomination - Washington Examiner - February 14th, 2017 [February 14th, 2017]
- Floyd Bledsoe urges Kansas to compensate the wrongfully convicted: 'I lost my freedom' - The Garden City Telegram - February 15th, 2017 [February 15th, 2017]
- Are Republicans Losing Momentum on Obamacare Repeal? - The Fiscal Times - February 15th, 2017 [February 15th, 2017]
- Study: US falls to 17th place in 2017 global economic freedom index - Economic Collapse News - February 15th, 2017 [February 15th, 2017]
- Mason Fiscal give WVFD go-ahead - Ledger Independent - February 15th, 2017 [February 15th, 2017]
- Officials Continue to Dodge Attempts to Disclose Use of Stingrays - Reason (blog) - February 16th, 2017 [February 16th, 2017]
- 10 Things to Know About Stephen Feinberg, Trump's Potential Intelligence Czar - The Fiscal Times - February 16th, 2017 [February 16th, 2017]
- Mason Fiscal gives WVFD go-ahead - Ledger Independent - February 16th, 2017 [February 16th, 2017]
- Senate Confirms Fiscal Hawk Mick Mulvaney As Trump's Budget Director - New York Magazine - February 16th, 2017 [February 16th, 2017]
- Thank You, Obama: US Steadily Lost Ground On Economic Freedom Over Past 8 Years - Investor's Business Daily - February 17th, 2017 [February 17th, 2017]
- Scott Pruitt: 5 Fast Facts You need to Know - Heavy.com - February 17th, 2017 [February 17th, 2017]
- Liberia Ahead Of Ukraine In Index of Economic Freedom 2017 - Global News Network - February 18th, 2017 [February 18th, 2017]
- EDITORIAL: The United States continues to drop on the Heritage Foundation's index of economic freedom - Las Vegas Review-Journal - February 18th, 2017 [February 18th, 2017]
- US Economic Freedom Hits Historic Low - theTrumpet.com - February 18th, 2017 [February 18th, 2017]
- Sounds of freedom rattling to far reaches of area - Jacksonville Daily News - February 18th, 2017 [February 18th, 2017]
- State lawmakers looking at forced treatment as option to combat opioid crises - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - February 20th, 2017 [February 20th, 2017]
- Sri Lanka's govt. integrity, economic freedom deteriorate - Daily Mirror - February 20th, 2017 [February 20th, 2017]
- Budget 2017: Why taxes will increase - DA - Politicsweb - February 20th, 2017 [February 20th, 2017]
- PH up by 12 notches in Economic Freedom Index 2017 ranking | SunStar - Sun.Star - February 20th, 2017 [February 20th, 2017]
- County Commission Backs Medical Marijuana, Opposes School Vouchers - Memphis Daily News - February 21st, 2017 [February 21st, 2017]
- Kellogg column: Our culture must shift from dependent to interdependent - Glenwood Springs Post Independent - February 21st, 2017 [February 21st, 2017]
- India's economic freedom plunge | Business Standard News - Business Standard - February 21st, 2017 [February 21st, 2017]
- Ohanaeze president worried about maltreatment of pro-Biafran members worries - Guardian - February 22nd, 2017 [February 22nd, 2017]
- Why is a freedom enshrined in the UN declaration of human rights ... - Stabroek News - February 22nd, 2017 [February 22nd, 2017]
- Gambia: Gambian Man Living In The United States; Former Jammeh Aide Sanna Jarju Named In A Multi million dollars ... - Freedom Newspaper - February 23rd, 2017 [February 23rd, 2017]
- Gauging the Trump Effect on Congress and the DOJ - Freedom Leaf (press release) (blog) - February 23rd, 2017 [February 23rd, 2017]
- PH leaps in economic freedom; 'yes' to calls for lasting peace - Manila Bulletin - February 23rd, 2017 [February 23rd, 2017]
- Ohanaeze Ndigbo decries violence against MASSOB, IPOB - Vanguard - February 23rd, 2017 [February 23rd, 2017]
- PH leaps 12 places in 2017 Economic Freedom Index - Filipino Reporter - February 24th, 2017 [February 24th, 2017]
- Read Scott Walker's Advice on How Republicans Should Handle Protests - TIME - February 24th, 2017 [February 24th, 2017]
- JCPenney to close 13 to 14 percent of stores - Rome Sentinel - February 24th, 2017 [February 24th, 2017]
- Dj vu all over again - The Capitol Fax Blog (blog) - February 24th, 2017 [February 24th, 2017]
- Solution created for county builders - Morehead News - February 24th, 2017 [February 24th, 2017]
- Economic Freedom Up Again, But Not in the US - Investor's Business Daily - February 24th, 2017 [February 24th, 2017]
- Expect the unexpected with upcoming budget, appropriations cycle, experts say - FederalNewsRadio.com - February 25th, 2017 [February 25th, 2017]
- Pleading poverty, demanding new taxes - Washington Times - February 27th, 2017 [February 27th, 2017]
- Newspaper lobby seeks Albany allies in fight for sunlight over state finances - Lockport Union-Sun & Journal - February 27th, 2017 [February 27th, 2017]
- Philippines Improves in Economic Freedom ranking | CFO innovation - CFO innovation ASIA - February 27th, 2017 [February 27th, 2017]
- California lawmakers press ICE for information about raids - The Mercury News - February 28th, 2017 [February 28th, 2017]
- ExclusiveRep. Meadows: We Won't Fix Healthcare By Replacing Obamacare with Another Bad Plan - Breitbart News - February 28th, 2017 [February 28th, 2017]
- Economic Freedom - HATICE KARAHAN - Yeni afak - Yeni afak English - February 28th, 2017 [February 28th, 2017]
- California 'Trust Women' License Plates to Help Pay for Reproductive Care in Trump Era - Rewire - March 1st, 2017 [March 1st, 2017]
- Reader Viewpoint: Recognizing our imperfections, tribulations allows us to be wise - The Herald Bulletin - March 1st, 2017 [March 1st, 2017]
- The Staggering Costs of Operating Air Force One - The Fiscal Times - March 2nd, 2017 [March 2nd, 2017]
- How a Tenet of GOP Orthodoxy Slipped Away - Roll Call - March 2nd, 2017 [March 2nd, 2017]
- Who is the enemy? - Emporia Gazette - March 2nd, 2017 [March 2nd, 2017]
- Wake Up, Republicans: This Could Be the Democrats' Tea Party - POLITICO Magazine - March 2nd, 2017 [March 2nd, 2017]
- Pakistan ranked ahead India in Economic Freedom Index report ... - ARY NEWS - March 2nd, 2017 [March 2nd, 2017]
- Excess rules stifle freedom - The Robesonian - March 2nd, 2017 [March 2nd, 2017]
- Law & (Executive) Order - Patriot Post - March 3rd, 2017 [March 3rd, 2017]
- A Closer Look at Trump's 10% Defense Spending Increase - Morningstar.com - March 3rd, 2017 [March 3rd, 2017]