Poverty Ticks Upward in North Carolina, Even As Employment Stabilizes

Poverty and food insecurity are on the rise across the state of North Carolina. That's according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

In the latest American Community Survey, not a single county in North Carolina saw a decrease in poverty rates, and many in the Triad region actually had moderate increases.

Overall, more than 1.6 million residents statewide live below the poverty level, an uptick of 2.5 percent between 2009 and 2014.

The new data comes as the North Carolina Department of Commerce released the latest jobs data Monday. The state unemployment rate ticked up slightly to 5.5 percent, though that number isn't seasonally-adjusted.

Mark Burkey, an economist at North Carolina A&T State University, says the unemployment number doesn't paint the whole picture, though. As the country has moved out of recession, he says wages have stagnated, leaving even those with jobs potentially worse off than before the recession.

“North Carolina clamped down on eligibility for unemployment benefits a little bit and shortened the time for people to be on unemployment benefits,” Burkey said. “A couple of years ago, that probably forced some people to take a job they could find and didn't allow them to wait for as a good of a job as they might have wanted.”

Burkey says things could be better, but the state has shown significant economic growth since the end of the recession. He cites business services, education and health services, and construction as bright points in the North Carolina economy.

Still, things are hard for those residents who are underemployed.

Reverend Myron Wilkins sees it every day. He runs the Greensboro Urban Ministry, which serves hundreds of community lunches daily and also operates a food pantry to serve those in need.

He says lately, he's seen a lot of new faces taking advantage of the services the ministry offers: full families, people qualified for high-paying jobs, and those who you might not expect needing help.

“Many of them now are people who are working or even have had a college education or training or experience and have not historically had to come for assistance.”

Wilkins says the ministry – and other community service providers – are constantly in need of donations. But more broadly, he hopes community leaders can come together to have a dialogue about poverty and food insecurity that has actionable, attainable goals.