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3 <br /> <br />Figure 2. Economic Sector Growth Rate (%) in North Carolina, 2009-2017. <br /> <br />Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. <br /> <br /> <br />Since the end of the Great Recession in mid-2009, economic growth has been uneven <br />among North Carolina’s major sectors (Figure 2). Fastest growth has been in the Information, <br />Professional and Business Services, and Leisure and Food Service sectors, while the slowest <br />growth has been in the Education and Health Care, Construction, and Non-durable <br />Manufacturing sectors. Indeed, output in Non-durable Manufacturing, which importantly <br />includes tobacco manufacturing (primarily cigarettes), textiles, and apparel, has dropped almost <br />20% since the conclusion of the Great Recession. These results suggest the long-running <br />restructuring of the North Carolina economy is continuing. Unfortunately, the decline in Non- <br />durable Manufacturing has a disproportionate negative impact on small town and rural areas. <br /> As a result of its severe contraction during the Great Recession, the health of the <br />residential housing market has been closely watched. Figure 3 shows a measure of residential <br />housing market activity in years prior to the Great Recession (2004-2006), during the Great <br />Recession (2007-2009), and in the recovery following the Great Recession (2010-2017). <br />Residential construction activity in the state made a tepid rebound in the early years of the <br />recovery, but since 2015 the pace of recovery has accelerated. Residential building permits in <br />North Carolina in 2017 were the highest in a decade, although they were still well below the <br />“boom” years of 2004-2006. <br /> <br /> <br />-30 -20 -10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 <br />Non-durable manuf <br />Construction <br />Educ & health care <br />Financial services <br />Transp & warehousing <br />Durable manuf <br />Trade <br />Farming & forestry <br />Leisure & food service <br />Prof & businsess serv <br />Information <br />% <br />9