Vital signs.

Change Latest Previous Previous from month month year last year EMPLOYMENT Employed (000s) 4,389.2 4,397.7 4,312.1 1.8% Civilian labor force 4,688.5 4,699.2 4,700.4 (0.3) Manufacturing 443.5 443.2 442.9 0.1 Service 3,492.4 3,499.2 3,423.1 2.0 Government 700.1 713.4 707.6 (1.1) Unemployed 299.3 301.5 388.3 (22.9) Avg. manufacturing workweek 43.8 43.1 41.7 5.0 (hours) Avg. hourly production wage $16.65 $16.81 $16.63 0.1 $39.6 billion

Federal funding the state will forgo from 2013 to 2022 because of lawmakers' decision not to expand Medicaid, according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Latest Previous Previous Change from month month year last year (millions) TAXABLE RETAIL SALES (1) Alamance 164,497.9 162,587.6 140,935.7 16.7% Buncombe 337,881.9 320,279.3 301,861.1 11.9 Cabarrus 236,167.9 231,476.9 209,991.2 12.5 Catawba 158,908.9 153,844.1 148,022.2 7.4 Cumberland 307,605.8 296,120.6 291,191.6 5.6 Durham 493,101.5 513,364.0 447,775.3 10.1 Forsyth 376,442.4 357,203.2 339,901.8 10.8 Gaston 144,892.5 137,710.4 131,755.3 10.0 Guilford 511,666.8 518,908.1 486,766.5 5.1 Iredell 159,041.9 152,856.5 148,629.9 7.0 Mecklenburg 1,497,851.8 1,453,944.9 1,315,072.4 13.9 New Hanover 316,912.8 302,542.1 282,996.2 12.0 Onslow 157,786.4 150,827.3 155,071.8 1.8 Pitt 157,016.5 153,509.0 153,099.4 2.6 Wake 1,091,747.2 1,053,834.4 965,374.3 13.1 N.C. STATE UNIVERSITY INDEX OF ECONOMIC INDICATORS

The index, a comparison of the state economy from month to month created by N.C. State economist Michael Walden, is calculated from the Economic Cycle Research Institute's Weekly Leading Index, North Carolina initial claims for unemployment benefits, North Carolina building permits and average weekly work hours and earnings for Tar Heel manufacturing workers. Raw data, which is seasonally adjusted, comes from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and U.S. Census Bureau.

Latest Previous month month AIR PASSENGER BOARDINGS (2) Asheville 37,152 32,415 Charlotte * 1,952,525 1,981,184 Fayetteville 21,230 20,467 Greensboro 73,750 75,520 Greenville 5,496 5,418 Jacksonville 15,035 14,808 New Bern 11,502 11,372 Raleigh/Durham 450,658 436,051 Wilmington 35,496 35,917 ELECTRIC UTILITIES (3) Dominion Residential customers...