JUNE 8, 2001

N.C. economy grew 5.1%
annually during the ‘90s,
nation’s 11th fastest rate

North Carolina ranks 11th nationally in economic growth from 1992-99, according to a new study by the U.S. Commerce Department. See chart at right.

Arizona was the nation’s fastest-growing state in the ‘90s, with an average growth rate of 7.3 percent. Neighboring Nevada was in second place with an average 7.0. Eight of the ten fastest growing states were in the Rocky Mountains region and the Pacific Northwest.

North Carolina’s 5.1 percent growth rate was more than a percentage point greater than the United States as a whole; the national economy grew at an annual 4 percent rate during the 1992-99 period..

Georgia, Texas and North Carolina were the hotspots in the Southeast during the ‘90s, ranking 9th, 10th and 11, respectively. South Carolina’s growth rate of 3.9 percent ranked it 20th nationally, while Virginia’s 3.6 percent rate of growth ranked it 29th in the nation.



Asheville Lands a High-Tech Gem
A small but rapidly growing computer software company that provides content and Internet infrastructure for business-to-business applications has chosen Asheville as its new corporate headquarters. 

eWorker Technologies, a unit of Entrinsic Co., has leased space at Biltmore Park, where the company’s current 15 employees will be joined by six new hires. Rick Purcell, CEO of eWorker, said he considered Atlanta and Charlotte before choosing Asheville. “We were really impressed with the overall vision this community has for attracting high-tech firms,” he said. 

The Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce and the Buncombe County EDC recently launched a focused strategy of attracting more high-tech firms to the area, and eWorker is the effort’s first success.