Perdue Surrenders to Double Digit Unemployment

Governor’s “New Normal” Signals Acceptance of High Jobless Rates

Raleigh, N.C. – Upon unveiling her $19 billion state budget on Tuesday, Governor Bev Perdue sounded a tone of defeat for her administration’s job-creation efforts.  While announcing her budget which projects creating 35,000 jobs over the next three years, Perdue told reporters, “This budget helps us set the table for the new normal.”  (“Perdue proposes $19 billion budget,” News & Observer, 4/20/10)  Given that there are currently 507,686 unemployed workers in North Carolina and the unemployment rate hovers above 11 percent according to the state’s Employment Security Commission, those additional 35,000 jobs over the course of the next three years projects North Carolina’s unemployment rate never dropping below 10.4 percent.  That 10.4 percent level is more than double the jobless rate as recently as 2007.

Senate Republican Leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) made the following statement:

“The people of North Carolina do not accept as ‘normal’ the Governor’s bleak tomorrow.  But without a plan to enhance job creation for hurting families and struggling small businesses her prediction may be accurate.  What is needed is commitment to a strategy for relief from government overspending and the crushing tax burdens that drive jobs from North Carolina and lengthen unemployment lines.  North Carolina’s leaders cannot wave the white flag of surrender in the face of today’s challenges.”

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