Washington report finds housing permits up, wages down in N.C.

NANCY PIERCE

Home construction jumped nearly 28 percent in N.C. in the past 12 months.

Permits issued across North Carolina for new housing construction jumped by nearly 28 percent in the 12 months ending in May.

But even that improved volume was still 8.3 percent below the number of permits issued in the first quarter of 2008, according to the Washington DC.-based Tax Policy Center.

The center is a joint venture between the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution.

Part of the center?s function is to make periodic checks on economic conditions in the states, including wages, employment, growth rates and tax collections. It publishes the findings in a report called the State Economic Monitor.

According to the latest edition of the Monitor:

? Average weekly earnings in North Carolina in May were $736, down 1.5 percent from a year earlier.

? Total employment in the state rose by 1.5 percent in the 12 months ending in May, while government payrolls shed 0.2 percent during the period.

? Total North Carolina tax collections. personal, corporate and sales, rose by 7.5 percent in the 12 months ending in May. Across the US as a whole, collections jumped by 9.3 percent.

? Real GDP rose by 2.7 percent in the state during the period, leaving North Carolina tied for 8th with South Carolina among the 50 states.

Lee Weisbecker covers Finance, State Government.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/vertical_26/~3/XTdFM0hhxwk/washington-report-finds-housing.html

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