Unemployment rate declines to 10.1 percent in Tennessee

Tennessee’s unemployment rate for June was 10.1 percent, down 0.3 percentage point from the previous month.

Labor Commissioner James Neeley said the unemployment rate fell as a result of modest gains in employment in construction and leisure/hospitality that was offset by job losses in education and census work.

The national unemployment rate for June was 9.5 percent, down 0.2 percentage point from the May rate of 9.7 percent.

According to the business survey of jobs, major decreases occurred in government jobs, primarily educational services, which were down by 34,700.

Private educational services also declined by 3,000 jobs.

Source: WATE.com

Quilt show brings cash to downtown Knoxville

Four days, 20,000 people and an economic impact of $20 million. The American Quilter’s Society show is back at the Knoxville Convention Center for the second year.

“They come by the van load, the bus load, the car load,” explained show director Bonnie Browning.

One group that came from Louisville has a lot of experience with quilting and quilt shows.

“This is undoubtedly the best that there is. It’s all under one roof. It’s cool and it’s nice and the food is good and the vendors are good. The hospitality is great,” said quilter Becky Branstetter.

“We sure spend a lot of money, I’ll tell you that!” Branstetter said.

Browning considered many factors before choosing Knoxville to host the expo, like accessibility.

“It just so happens this city sits on the second and fourth busiest interstates in the country. We also look at how you get around town, shuttle service,” she said. “We also look at crime rates, you know we have a lot of women and so we want them to be able to feel comfortable being in their hotel and out on the streets.”

The Knoxville Tourism and Sports Corporation sponsored a window dressing contest for local businesses as one way to welcome the quilters into the community.

“The picture that we like to use with quilters is that they come by bus with money in both hands as they enter the town,” said Robb Wells with the KTSC.

Mast General Store extended their evening hours Wednesday for that very reason.

“They bring lots of business. People love to come into a downtown area where they have places to eat, places shop, just see the city,” said Teresa Wilke at Mast General.

Even the U.S. Postal Service is cashing in, parking a mobile unit in front of the convention center where quilters can mail their purchases home, with a special cancellation stamp for each day.

The Knoxville area boasts many of its own prize-winning quilters.

“Quilts of valor is an organization where we give quilts to service personnel in the military that have been touched by war,” explained Kate Meyers of Sevierville, who helped make a patriotic quilt that won third place at the quilt show.

The show has a contract for Knoxville to host their July show through 2012.

The show is open to the public Thursday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets are $11.

Source: WATE.com

N.C. IT job demand rises in June

The state’s demand for information technology jobs climbed by 12.8 percent this month, according to the latest report from the North Carolina Technology Association and national talent management firm SkillProof.

Average daily openings for June reached 3,350, the report shows. That’s an increase of nearly 400 from May and nearly triple the 1,240 listings in June 2009.

Last month’s figure also tops pre-recession numbers from June 2008, when North Carolina listed 3,250 jobs daily.

The report also noted potential for a slowdown in the summer season.
June 2010 job openings by category, with June 2009 figure in parentheses:

* Systems engineering/support: 930 (470)
* IT architects/consultants: 560 (150)
* IT management: 600 (70)
* Software development: 520 (280)
* IT sales and marketing: 320 (70)
* Systems administration: 220 (90)
* Business/process design: 80 (60)
* Hardware engineering: 40 (10)
* Training/tech writing: 40 920)
* Misc. categories: 40 (20)
Top 15 needed skills (2009 total in parentheses):
* Oracle DBMS: 620 (230)
* Windows OS: 520 (320)
* SQL: 490 (220)
* Java: 460 (170)

Source: Charlotte Business Journal

Report: Stimulus has saved 90,000 N.C. jobs

The federal stimulus bill passed in early 2009 has created or saved 90,000 jobs in North Carolina, according to a report the Council of Economic Advisers released Friday.

The report did not break the gains down by metro areas.

The statewide job total was arrived at by looking at the results of three measurements and then averaging the findings. Those three approaches considered the percentage of all non-farm jobs in North Carolina, the percentage of stimulus dollars the state has received and the parceling out of job growth among 42 industries according to how concentrated they are in each state.

“It is important to emphasize that these … estimates are inherently more speculative and uncertain,” the report says.

Nationally, the report says, 3.05 million jobs have been created or saved.

In the region, the stimulus has created or saved 41,000 jobs in South Carolina, the report says. The impact in Virginia was 41,000 jobs, and in Georgia the total was 91,000.

Seeing the biggest bang were California, with 357,000 jobs, and Texas, 225,000.

Some 618,000, or 20 percent, of the jobs created or saved nationwide were in various forms of construction; 292,000 in health care and health-care information technology; 254,000 in environmental cleanup; and 827,000 in clean energy.

The report did not specify the impact in North Carolina by industry category.

The report comes as the the Tar Heel State jobless rate dipped to 10 percent in June — the lowest month rate of the year. On Friday, the N.C. Employment Security Commission said last month’s unemployment rate declined from 10.4 percent in May.

“There was positive news in the June data in that the state experienced a small gain in jobs,” said ESC Chairman Lynn Holmes. “Since February, North Carolina has added over 45,000 jobs, but we still have a long way to go.”

The 10 percent rate is the lowest since January 2009, when statewide unemployment stood at 9.7 percent. The state’s jobless rate peaked at 11.2 percent in February, then declined to 11.1 percent in March, 10.8 percent in April and 10.4 percent in May.

As previously reported, unemployment in the Charlotte metro area fell to 10.9 percent in May from 11.2 percent in April, according to the Employment Security Commission.

The commission is scheduled to report June unemployment figures for N.C. metro areas and counties on Friday.

Source: Charlotte Business Journal

Eastwood Homes to open Raleigh office

Charlotte-based builder Eastwood Homes is opening a Raleigh office, its fifth division in the Carolinas.

“Raleigh and its surrounding cities are growing at a remarkable rate,” says Joe Steward, owner and founder of Eastwood Homes. “I just know that we belong there, and I’ve been looking forward to this opportunity for quite a while.”

Eastwood’s first development in the metro Raleigh area will be The Preserve at Rockbridge near Knightdale. The company hopes to open two or three more communities in the Triangle by the end of the year.
Brian Johnston, a UNC Chapel Hill alum and former National Football League player with the New York Giants, will lead the Raleigh office. He’s a 13-year veteran of the company.

Last month, Big Builder magazine ranked Eastwood Homes as the 48th-largest home builder in the country. It’s the first time the company has ranked in the top 50.

Eastwood Homes specializes in homes priced from $150,000 to $350,000.

In the Charlotte region, the company was issued 55 building permits valued at a combined $8.48 million in 2008 (the latest totals available). That ranked Eastwood Homes as the region’s 13th-largest home builder as based on the number of permits, and its 15th-largest as based on the value of those permits.

Source: Charlotte Business Journal

Bottom Dollar to take Philly stake

Bottom Dollar Food, a discount grocer and affiliate of Food Lion, plans to open between 15 and 20 stores by year end in the Philadelphia market. The grocer says the stores will create more than 600 jobs in the region. (DEG)

Source: Charlotte Business News – Local Charlotte News | Charlotte Business Journal

Charlotte Chamber: $1.4B invested in first half of 2010

Within the first six months of 2010, a total of 465 new or expanding firms created 7,034 jobs in Charlotte, according to Charlotte Chamber research.

Source: Charlotte Business News – Local Charlotte News | Charlotte Business Journal

UT-Battelle gives OR schools $50K

UT-Battelle is giving Oak Ridge schools a $50,000 grant to help educators prepare students for Tennessee’s new higher graduation standards.

The funds will be used to identify and work with students in the early grades who need special help in math and reading, according to UT-Battelle information.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Thom Mason gave the check to the Oak Ridge Public Education Foundation Thursday at a reception hosted at the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce to celebrate the extension of UT-Battelle’s contract to manage ORNL.

UT-Battelle will operate the lab until at least 2015, thanks to the Department of Energy extending the contract.

Thanking the community for its support of ORNL during the past 10 years, Mason said, “When some people thought you were crazy, you welcomed UT-Battelle into your community with the kind of support many of my colleagues around the country cannot believe. Many of them also cannot believe what we have accomplished together.”

Calling it “one of the most successful partnerships in America,” Mason noted that the lab and the community have worked together on a $55 million renovation of Oak Ridge High School, the development of one of America’s premier rowing programs at Melton Hill Lake, the renovation the historic Oak Ridge Playhouse and the construction of a new Science and Technology Park.

“All these things were made possible because of your faith and your support for UT-Battelle,” Mason stated, according to his printed remarks released earlier to the media.

Noting that UT-Battelle has donated more than $10 million to education, civic and economic development projects since April 2000, Mason stated, “I am totally confident that the next 10 years can be just as dynamic, with opportunities just as exciting as those of the last decade. As the director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and as the CEO of UT-Battelle, I want to personally renew our commitment to the people of Oak Ridge.”

The $50,000 donation is part of a larger effort to position Oak Ridge schools to measure student achievement, particularly in the early grades, and address gaps in math and reading before students reach middle school. Deputy Director for Schools Ken Green said, “By shifting the trajectory of students at the earliest stages, we can take them to a higher level by the time they graduate.”

During UT-Battelle’s tenure at ORNL, the laboratory’s budget has tripled to more than $1.6 billion and the number of staff have increased from 3,700 to 4,800.

Source: The Oak Ridger Business RSS