SALISBURY — In partnership with the Rowan Chamber of Commerce, Miller Davis and RoleCall, the Rowan Economic Development Commission is unveiling its talent attraction campaign, Choose Rowan.

With the unemployment rate dwindling and more jobs coming into Rowan County, employers have stated that workforce is their number one issue. This initiative was created to assist in recruiting talent to Rowan County.

Created under the Your Rowan umbrella by Miller Davis, the Choose Rowan talent attraction hub provides a look into what life would be like in Rowan to prospective residents.

Then, if visitors want to learn more, they can jump into the talent portal and submit basic information about themselves. This will lead them into a personalized recruitment journey where they can be connected with employers or local leaders, as well as receive more information about their stated interests and goals, and help guide them throughout the relocation process.

“This talent attraction effort is more than a year in the making and we’re excited to launch our campaign,” said Rod Crider, Rowan EDC President. “It was important to us to make this platform an engaging, personalized experience to align closely with prospective residents and employees. We’ve heard time and time again from our area employers how crucial workforce is, and we hope this will make a direct, positive impact.”

North Carolina’s April county and area employment figures released

RALEIGH — Unemployment rates (not seasonally adjusted) decreased in 83 of North Carolina’s counties in April, increased in four and remained unchanged in 13.

Edgecombe County had the highest unemployment rate at 7.4% while Orange and Chatham Counties each had the lowest at 2.6%. Twelve of the state’s metro areas experienced rate decreases and three remained unchanged. Among the metro areas, Rocky Mount had the highest rate at 5.8% while Asheville and Durham-Chapel Hill each had the lowest at 2.8%. The April not seasonally adjusted statewide rate was 3.4 percent. There were no counties above 10%.

When compared to the same month last year, not seasonally adjusted unemployment rates decreased in all 100 counties. All 15 of the state’s metro areas experienced rate decreases over the year.

The number of workers employed statewide (not seasonally adjusted) increased in April by 23,922 to 4,927,270, while those unemployed decreased by 6,924 to 175,278. Since April 2021, the number of workers employed statewide increased 247,774, while those unemployed decreased 71,562.

It is important to note that employment estimates are subject to large seasonal patterns. It is advisable to focus on over-the-year changes in the not seasonally adjusted estimates.

The next unemployment update is scheduled for June 17 when the state unemployment rate for May 2022 will be released.

Understanding Your Dogs LLC to host summer seminars for sport training

SALISBURY — Understanding Your Dog will be hosting two summer seminars in June about trick training and how the dog mind thinks to perform them.

The first seminar, Introduction To Sport, will be on June 11 from 8 – 11 a.m. held partly at the training center at 110 E. Council Street in Salisbury and partly at Pitner Dog Park located behind the Salisbury Civic Center at 201 S. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Breakfast will be provided.

Dog sports can help keep dogs both physically and mentally healthy. All dogs need some degree of exercise, and most will thrive with the extra stimulation.

At Intro to Sport, owners and their dog will learn these skills and more:

• Agility: The number #1 dog sport where you direct your dog through an obstacle course that consists of obstacles, tunnels, jumps and more.

• Trick training: A great way to give your dog both a mental and physical workout, and a fun way for you and your dog to work together. Through trick training, you build a better relationship with your dog, increase mental flexibility (focus and engagement), help develop control and increase motivation.

• Treibball:  Also known as ‘urban herding’, this sport isn’t limited to just herding breeds. Urban herding is a positive reinforcement dog sport where the dog must gather and drive large exercise balls into a soccer goal, learning some fun wait and push skills.

• Scent Work: Created to mimic professional detection dog tasks, your dog and you form a team where your dog finds a hidden target odor, ignoring distractors. After the dog finds the scent, they are rewarded!

• Rally: A dog and their handler move together through a course with signs that display a skill to perform such as turns or behaviors like sit, down, or stay. The dog and handler work together and develop teamwork and enthusiasm throughout the course.

The second summer seminar is Introduction to American Kennel Club Titles, a session meant for humans only on June 18 from 1 – 3 p.m. to learn how teaching new activities helps your dog to think, learn and be mentally vibrant.

Providing mental stimulation is very important to both developing puppies and adult dogs. In this humans-only seminar, owners will learn about the many fun AKC Titles and skills that they can teach their dog for the pets to earn their titles.

Come for a presentation and open discussion covering companion event titles, performance event titles and family dog titles.

All dogs must be current on all vaccinations. If a dog reacts negatively toward other dogs or people or has severe behavior issues, contact Understanding Your Dog for private sessions, which will be the better option.

To learn more about the Summer Seminars at Understanding Your Dog LLC, or to register for one or both seminars, visit TheresaDogNC.com/EVENTS or visit the Training Center at 110 E. Council Street, Salisbury.

Rowan County participating in CBJ’s Forward Together series

ROWAN COUNTY — Rowan County is participating in the Charlotte Business Journal’s Forward Together series with a panel of county leaders presenting via Zoom on June 23.

Panelists will include Rowan EDC President Rod Crider, Rowan County Board of Commissioners Chair Greg Edds, Rowan-Cabarrus Community College Vice President Division of Corporate and Continuing Education Craig Lamb and NorthPoint Development Regional Vice President Caleb Moore.

The panel will speak to Rowan County’s place in the Charlotte Region, the recent developments along the I-85 corridor, what’s in store for the future of Rowan and much more.

To register for the event, visit www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/event.

North Carolina wins inaugural Platinum Shovel Award for economic development

RALEIGH — North Carolina is one of two states that has received Area Development magazine’s inaugural 2022 Platinum Shovel award which recognizes states that went beyond the gold standard for investment and job creation. Tennessee is the second state receiving the honor.

The Platinum Shovel award is part of Area Development’s annual celebration of economic development, which also includes the Gold and Silver Shovel awards. Among other states, North Carolina was previously honored by the magazine, having received Gold Shovel awards in 2018 and 2021 and Silver Shovel awards in 2009, 2011–2017 and 2019–2020.

“We are proud that North Carolina is being recognized nationally for the economic development successes we had in 2021,” said Governor Roy Cooper. “This award validates what we already know about our state – that we have the best workforce and quality of life in the country. Now it’s back to work on 2022.”

Area Development magazine presents the Annual Shovel Awards to states in recognition of their state economic development agencies and their achievements in job creation and economic impact through policies and processes that attract and develop new and existing businesses. All 50 states across the country submitted their top ten job creation and investment projects from 2021, which were then scored on the number of high value-added jobs per capita, amount of investment, number of new facilities and industry diversity.

“By virtue of the fact that North Carolina’s 10 submitted projects will be responsible for the creation of more than 9,000 jobs and $6 billion in company investment, the state went beyond the gold standard and is receiving our new Platinum Shovel award,” said Area Development’s Editor Geraldine Gambale.

North Carolina also had two projects recognized as Projects of the Year. Apple’s research and development center in Wake County was recognized as Non-Manufacturing Project of the Year. The project will create 3,000 jobs and invest over $1 billion. Toyota’s first North American electric vehicle battery manufacturing plant in Randolph County won Manufacturing Project of the Year. The project will create 1,750 jobs and invest $1.3 billion.

“North Carolina had a notable year in 2021; we announced over 20,000 jobs and over $10 billion in investment. This positive trajectory out of 2021 has led to substantial project wins in early 2022,” said Christopher Chung, CEO of the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina. “The EDPNC and our state and local partners have worked hard to make this happen, and we appreciate this national recognition.”

The 2022 Platinum Shovel award is not the only award for economic development North Carolina has won this year. Earlier this month, North Carolina won Site Selection magazine’s 2021 Prosperity Cup, an annual award given to state-level organizations with the most successful economic development and business development projects in their state for the previous year.

To read more about North Carolina’s economic successes in 2021, visit edpnc-thrive.com.

To read Area Development’s report on this year’s Gold and Silver Shovel Award and Project of the Year award winners, go to www.areadevelopment.com/gold-shovel-econdev-awards.

Charlotte region ranked as top 20 job market

CHARLOTTE — Moody’s Analytics and the Wall Street Journal ranked the Charlotte Region as the number 16 job market in the United States.

Utilizing data provided by the U.S. Department of Labor, analysts determine the annual rankings based on five criteria: job growth, average unemployment rate in 2021, share of adults working or looking for work, change in the size of the labor force and change in average weekly wages.

The WSJ also published a podcast stating that the hottest job markets are currently in mid-sized cities.

“People are moving out of these bigger economies, like New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, into to these other alternatives, these mid-size cities, that are relatively cheaper to live in,” WSJ Economics Reporter Bryan Mena said in the podcast.

The cost of living in Rowan County is lower than both the Charlotte and national average, in particular the housing costs which are over 25% more affordable.

Austin, Texas was number one on the list and Raleigh, North Carolina ranked third.