Leading, Slipping, Gaining, Lagging Analysis:
Assessing Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services Earnings Growth
Across North Carolina Counties
Real* Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
Earnings Growth
County vs Statewide Average: 2010-2022 and 2022
Real* Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
Earnings Growth
North Carolina:
2010-2022 = 7.60%
2022 = 10.43%
Borrowing from an approach that sometimes appears in the finance sections of the popular press, LSGL analysis is a handy and versatile way to compare, portray and classify the patterns of real professional, scientific, and technical services earnings growth across all of North Carolina's 100 counties. In finance, this technique is used for comparing and assessing the market performance of individual securities or across industry sectors. For example, the performance of the 30 stocks contained within Dow are compared with one another over the past week in contrast to their performance over the past month using the Dow's respective averages as the points of reference.
Here in this North Carolina Regional Economic Analysis Project report, we adopt this approach to gauge and compare the real professional, scientific, and technical services earnings growth of North Carolina's 100 counties over the latest available year (2022) against the backdrop of their growth over the long term period (2010-2022). In so doing we classify their growth and performance into 4 broad categories: Leading, Slipping, Gaining and Lagging.
Real* Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
Earnings Growth
County vs Statewide Average: 2010-2022 and 2022
Real* Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
Earnings Growth
North Carolina:
2010-2022 = 7.60%
2022 = 10.43%
This figure displays the 100 counties of North Carolina as dots on a scattergram, with the vertical axis representing the average annual real professional, scientific, and technical services earnings growth rate over the long-term period (2010-2022), and the horizontal axis representing the real professional, scientific, and technical services earnings growth rate for the near-term (2022).
This figure sets apart those counties whose long-term real professional, scientific, and technical services earnings growth exceeded the statewide average of 7.60%, by portraying them in the top two quadrants demarcated at 7.60% on the vertical axis. County whose long-term average annual real professional, scientific, and technical services earnings growth rate trailed the statewide average (7.60%) are distributed in the bottom two quadrants. In all, 11 counties surpassed the statewide average over 2010-2022, while 35 counties fell below.
Similarly, the two quadrants on the right of this figure present the positions of the 21 counties whose most recent (2022) real professional, scientific, and technical services earnings growth rate exceeded the statewide average (10.43%). The two quadrants on the left feature those 25 counties whose real professional, scientific, and technical services earnings growth over 2022 trailed the statewide average.
Accordingly, each quadrant portrays the performance of all 100 counties corresponding with their long-term (2010-2022) and near-term (2022) performance relative to their respective statewide averages of 7.60% over 2010-2022 and 10.43% over 2022:
Leading counties () (top-right quadrant)...are counties whose average annual real professional, scientific, and technical services earnings growth rate surpassed the statewide average both long-term (7.60%) and near-term (10.43%).
Slipping counties () (top-left quadrant)...are counties whose long-term average annual real professional, scientific, and technical services earnings growth rate exceeded the statewide average (7.60%), but whose near-term growth has "slipped" by falling below the North Carolina average (10.43%).
Gaining counties () (bottom-right quadrant)...are counties whose long-term average annual real professional, scientific, and technical services earnings growth rate fell below the statewide average (7.60%), but whose near-term growth has "gained" by registering above the average (10.43%) statewide.
Lagging counties () (bottom-left quadrant)...are counties whose average annual real professional, scientific, and technical services earnings growth rate fell under the statewide average both long-term (7.60%) and near-term (10.43%).
   
 
Summary of North Carolina's 100 County Totals
 
Short Term Average
 
 
Below
(10.43%)
Above
(10.43%)
 
Long
Term
Average
Above
(7.60%)
5
6
11
Below
(7.60%)
20
15
35
 
25
21
46
 
   
Leading Counties
2022 vs. 2010-2022 Averages
Leading Counties
white dot
North Carolina:
2010-2022 = 7.60%
2022 = 10.43%
Turning attention to the top-right quadrant from the discussion above, this figure features the distribution of the North Carolina counties classified as Leading. These counties surpassed North Carolina's average annual real professional, scientific, and technical services earnings growth both long-term (2010-2022 = 7.60%) as well as near-term (2022 = 10.43%). Each is identified by its corresponding ranking based on it's average annual real professional, scientific, and technical services earnings growth rate over 2010-2022.
Of North Carolina's 100 counties, just 6 (6%) are classified within the Leading () category. Those counties ranked by their long-term average include:
Slipping Counties
2022 vs. 2010-2022 Averages
Slipping Counties
North Carolina:
2010-2022 = 7.60%
2022 = 10.43%
This figure depicts the distribution of the 5 North Carolina counties classified as Slipping (top-left quadrant), in that their long-term average annual real professional, scientific, and technical services earnings growth rate outpaced the average statewide (2010-2022 = 7.60%), while they trailed the statewide average near-term (2022 = 10.43%). Again, each county is identified by it's corresponding ranking based on its average annual real professional, scientific, and technical services earnings growth rate over 2010-2022.
Only 5 (5%) of North Carolina's 100 counties are classified as Slipping (). Those counties ranked by their long-term average include:
Gaining Counties
2022 vs. 2010-2022 Averages
Gaining Counties
white dot
North Carolina:
2010-2022 = 7.60%
2022 = 10.43%
This figure shows the distribution of the 15 North Carolina counties classified as Gaining (bottom-right quadrant), in that their long-term average annual real professional, scientific, and technical services earnings growth rate posted below the average statewide (2010-2022 = 7.60%), while they outpaced North Carolina's average near-term (2022 = 10.43%). Again, each county is identified by its corresponding ranking based on its average annual real professional, scientific, and technical services earnings growth rate over 2010-2022.
Of North Carolina's 100 counties, only 15% (15) are featured as Gaining (). Those counties ranked by their long-term average include:
Lagging Counties
2022 vs. 2010-2022 Averages
Lagging Counties
white dot
North Carolina:
2010-2022 = 7.60%
2022 = 10.43%
This figure depicts the distributions of the 20 North Carolina counties classified as Lagging (bottom-left quadrant). These counties trailed the statewide average annual real professional, scientific, and technical services earnings growth both long-term (2010-2022 = 7.60%) as well as near-term (2022 = 10.43%). Again, each county is identified by its corresponding ranking based on it's average annual real professional, scientific, and technical services earnings growth rate over 2010-2022.
20% of North Carolina's counties, 20 of 100, are characterized here as Lagging (). Those counties ranked by their long-term average include:
   
 
North Carolina
Real* Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services Earnings Growth
County vs. Statewide Average
 
2010-2022
 
2022
 
 
Leading Counties
 
9
8.04
 
28
12.78
5,374,381
 
2
10.39
 
16
19.09
126,185
 
6
8.42
 
25
13.74
11,582,154
 
11
7.75
 
22
15.20
250,214
 
7
8.30
 
21
15.35
950,349
 
4
8.92
 
30
12.51
390,643
Slipping Counties
 
8
8.21
 
45
7.47
4,631
 
10
7.95
 
38
9.26
1,459,480
 
3
9.69
 
43
7.79
12,869,707
 
1
12.75
 
72
-9.33
10,755
 
5
8.50
 
50
6.36
121,427
Gaining Counties
 
30
4.92
 
23
14.44
196,967
 
35
3.70
 
29
12.69
47,781
 
29
5.13
 
24
14.15
318,560
 
31
4.82
 
27
12.98
103,478
 
15
7.14
 
17
19.05
300,135
 
23
5.84
 
32
11.65
45,088
 
27
5.26
 
13
19.65
6,710
 
22
6.00
 
26
13.22
85,355
 
34
3.96
 
4
31.71
20,927
 
12
7.59
 
11
22.35
108,074
 
45
1.10
 
10
22.66
11,117
 
24
5.80
 
15
19.10
17,154
 
17
6.52
 
9
22.73
43,526
 
18
6.28
 
33
11.43
107,157
 
20
6.23
 
18
18.21
10,894
Lagging Counties
 
13
7.50
 
35
10.24
855,762
 
41
2.42
 
53
5.41
5,750
 
14
7.15
 
57
3.88
21,783
 
38
3.29
 
51
5.72
609,094
 
40
2.98
 
36
9.96
110,199
 
25
5.36
 
71
-9.04
26,181
 
39
2.99
 
37
9.58
1,194,466
 
32
4.55
 
58
3.83
202,797
 
33
4.08
 
62
2.22
1,866,959
 
16
6.74
 
54
5.00
76,559
 
37
3.31
 
42
8.11
61,454
 
28
5.19
 
61
3.38
65,555
 
43
1.60
 
69
-8.32
95,474
 
42
1.71
 
63
0.97
8,610
 
21
6.19
 
73
-10.28
233,471
 
26
5.34
 
46
7.34
66,860
 
36
3.49
 
52
5.72
37,842
 
44
1.56
 
65
-4.14
6,211
 
19
6.27
 
64
-0.73
7,336
 
46
0.50
 
60
3.76
97,200
Undefined/Suppressed Counties
 
U
U
 
40
8.95
11,662
 
U
U
 
6
29.68
7,839
 
U
U
 
3
31.71
10,276
 
U
U
 
S
S
18,580
 
U
U
 
S
S
S
 
U
U
 
5
31.24
43,031
 
U
U
 
S
S
S
 
U
U
 
S
S
S
 
U
U
 
14
19.39
228,758
 
U
U
 
S
S
S
 
U
U
 
8
28.47
6,214
 
U
U
 
20
16.06
167,836
 
U
U
 
S
S
S
 
U
U
 
34
11.06
195,935
 
U
U
 
S
S
S
 
U
U
 
48
6.73
79,562
 
U
U
 
S
S
42,375
 
U
U
 
S
S
S
 
U
U
 
S
S
S
 
U
U
 
19
16.55
3,542
 
U
U
 
S
S
S
 
U
U
 
7
29.35
55,308
 
U
U
 
56
4.53
175,039
 
U
U
 
55
4.60
6,749
 
U
U
 
S
S
S
 
U
U
 
S
S
S
 
U
U
 
S
S
S
 
U
U
 
S
S
S
 
U
U
 
49
6.56
175,688
 
U
U
 
2
74.01
9,059
 
U
U
 
1
91.96
128,221
 
U
U
 
S
S
S
 
U
U
 
S
S
S
 
U
U
 
67
-7.16
11,782
 
U
U
 
S
S
S
 
U
U
 
S
S
241,818
 
U
U
 
S
S
S
 
U
U
 
31
12.51
67,284
 
U
U
 
S
S
S
 
U
U
 
59
3.76
7,307
 
U
U
 
12
20.22
31,698
 
U
U
 
44
7.56
102,246
 
U
U
 
S
S
S
 
U
U
 
S
S
S
 
U
U
 
66
-5.05
126,996
 
U
U
 
41
8.64
24,464
 
U
U
 
S
S
S
 
U
U
 
S
S
16,280
 
U
U
 
47
6.88
70,817
 
U
U
 
39
9.15
50,498
 
U
U
 
S
S
956
 
U
U
 
70
-8.44
38,590
 
U
U
 
S
S
52,775
 
U
U
 
68
-7.21
15,438
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
7.60
 
10.43
43,427,937
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
5.61
 
8.24
1,725,868,000
November 2023
REAP_PI_CA1600N_611200_LSGL
 
   
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