North Carolina’s Unemployment System Still Ranks Last in the Nation as Cooper Throws Away 150 Million in Economic Development | Eastern NC Now

Press Release:

    RALEIGH NC     Unemployment claims are soaring and Governor Roy Cooper continues his war on NC Small Businesses. As of today, more than 1.4 million North Carolinians have filed for unemployment due to Cooper's prolonged Covid shutdown. For every Covid positive test in the state, there are now 45 North Carolina residents seeking unemployment assistance. However, many of those folks continue to suffer due to the Cooper administration's incompetence in timely processing unemployment claims.

    Way back in early April, the US Department of Labor ranked North Carolina slowest in the nation in terms of getting unemployment claims paid. It is now early June, and North Carolina is still ranked dead last, and the backlog has only increased.

    After months of mounting bipartisan criticism, Cooper finally appointed a new director at the Department of Employment Security, citing his "leadership over the Hometown Strong initiative." However, the governor's handpicked replacement reeks of cronyism not competence. Gibson is known as an old school politician and has faced substantial criticism for advocating for unfair taxpayer incentives. In making his appointment, Cooper praised Gibson's leadership on the "Hometown Strong" initiative. This appears to be a title without meaning. Hometown Strong has not announced any successes as a direct result of the program since it formed in early 2018. Unfortunately for suffering North Carolinians, Cooper seems more committed to playing politics than helping people.

    Yesterday, the Charlotte Observer reported that Mecklenburg County is experiencing the highest unemployment in a decade. This devastating unemployment news comes on the same day that Cooper pulled the plug on an $150 million dollar plus lifeline for the Charlotte economy. He proudly declared that he would unilaterally prevent the Republican National Convention to take place in North Carolina.

    "It is appalling that Roy Cooper single-handedly blocked the RNC Convention from coming to North Carolina throwing away hundreds of millions of dollars for Charlotte's small business community," said NCGOP Press Secretary Tim Wigginton. "While the Governor drives away business, he is also catastrophically failing to get unemployment benefits to those who need them most. North Carolina needs to elect Dan Forest in order to have a Governor who will welcome business to North Carolina and makes sure government agencies actually work."

• Contact: Tim Wigginton
•     communications@ncgop.org