What happened to North Carolina that its unemployment rate nearly doubled across the board in the past year? The counties are pretty mixed between rural, manufacturing, and metropolitan, but the results look almost identical.

So who wants to move to Nebraska or Kansas?

My county is said to be the worst unemployment in the state (we just lost our GM plant, and some other manufacturing facilities are limping along or already closed), but we really don't have it very bad. Yet.

NC, I think, was part of a general SE housing boom. Sun belt and all. It also has furniture and construction related manufacturing, both areas severely hit by the housing crash.