Pain and gain: gutted unemployment benefits sent the idled scurrying for work and bolstered the rank of low-paying companies on our listing of largest private employers.

PositionLARGEST PRIVATE-SECTOR EMPLOYERS

In July, Republican lawmakers overhauled North Carolina's unemployment-insurance program, reducing the maximum payout and cutting the length of time the out-of-work receive benefits. It was done to lower the state's debt to the federal government of $2.8 billion, which it had accrued paying unemployment benefits during the Great Recession. But it also has made a dent in the state's unemployment rate, says Mark Vitner, a Charlotte-based economist at Wells Fargo & Co. "We're fairly optimistic about 2014 because we've had a pretty strong end to 2013," he says, noting November's seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate--7.4%--is 2 percentage points lower than 12 months earlier. That decline has been more pronounced since July, when the unemployment-insurance revamp likely drove some jobseekers to low-paying jobs, such as those in retail or service.

BUSINESS NORTH CAROLINA'S annual ranking of the 100 largest private-sector employers in the state supports Vitner's theory. Grocery stores, retailers and restaurants saw a surge in workers last year. Brussels-based...

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