Source:  Ray Gronberg, THE HERALD-SUN, 2/4/10

Gov. Beverly Perdue and N.C. State University economist Mike Walden told city and county managers Wednesday that North Carolina's economy will likely take a while to recover from the recession. Speaking at an annual seminar for city and county managers in Durham, Perdue said many challenges lay ahead for the state. "This recovery is going to be slow. It's going to be very hard," Perdue said. "You at the local level are going to have to understand, just like we do at the state level, that things are not over yet."

Walden, who followed Perdue at the podium, said employment should start picking up soon, but the state "will be lucky" to add 40,000 jobs in 2010. The recovery of a consumer-driven economy is likely to be slow-paced because families will devote more of their money over the next couple years to paying down the debts they incurred while they could borrow against rising home values, Walden said. Most forecasts suggest the recovery nationally will take three to four years, he said.

Walden nonetheless voiced optimism, predicting this state's economy would grow faster than the national average as demand for manufactured goods returns. "Looking at the state analytically, I would be hard pressed -- hard pressed -- to find a state that's better positioned and has better prospects for future economic growth than North Carolina," he said.