N.C. unionization rate second-lowest in U.S.
Labor union membership in North Carolina was 2.5% of wage and salary workers, the second-lowest rate in the U.S., according to data last week (https://businessnc.us12.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3a9823939a00705b46bd19ed9&id=aaa308c33c&e=b0c93853c1)from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
About 113,000 of the 4.55 million people employed in North Carolina belong to unions, the BLS said. South Dakota had the lowest unionization rate at 2.3%, while South Carolina’s was 2.7%. The rate in Tennessee was 4.8%, while Virginia’s is 5.4%.
Hawaii had the highest union membership rate at 24.8%, followed by New York at 21.3%.
The national rate is 10%, little changed from 2024, the BLS said. Twenty percent of U.S. workers were unionized in 1983, the first year of comparable data.
I-77 Delay
The North Carolina Department of Transportation is delaying its Interstate 77 toll lanes project by several months to make time for additional community engagement, the agency announced in a news release Monday. The announcement follows mounting pressure from residents and local leaders who said the NCDOT’s process lacked proper transparency and input. Local officials have debated their power to slow the project ever since the transportation department revealed maps late last year showing the interstate expansion caused by adding toll lanes could encroach on historically Black neighborhoods.
Charlotte City Council planned to vote Monday evening — with uncertain authority — to direct NCDOT to take a 60-day pause. The NCDOT beat them to the punch.
“I think they have listened to council members over the last week and a half. These are small steps,” said District 2 Councilman Malcolm Graham. “There’s certainly a lot more work to be done.”
NCDOT planned to issue its first requests for proposals to finalist companies this month, which would have been a key step in advancing the project. Those requests are now delayed until June, and NCDOT will instead send “preliminary project information” to shortlisted companies on March 13. Project design is only about 10 to 15% complete, so it’s not too late to incorporate more community feedback, according to the news release.
N.C. Secretary of Transportation Daniel Johnson will host small group meetings with impacted residents and establish a community engagement center where residents can drop in and ask questions, though details on when and where that center will operate have yet to be announced. Four finalist companies also will use the extra time to meet with residents along the I-77 corridor, Graham said.
Earlier Monday, the Black Political Caucus of Charlotte-Mecklenburg and several residents of McCrorey Heights filed a temporary restraining order against NCDOT requesting a halt to the project. The goal of the restraining order is to have NCDOT look for alternatives to the project that ensure nearby neighborhoods aren’t negatively impacted. NCDOT officials said they were aware of the filing and would continue to engage with the community on the design process. After the caucus’ news conference, NCDOT released a statement noting that homes north of the John Belk Freeway would be preserved.
Besides the caucus, Sean Langley, president of the McCrorey Heights Neighborhood Association, said residents are working with the Southern Environmental Law Center to request a nine-month pause to the project. And State Senators DeAndrea Salvador and Caleb Theodros, whose districts contain the project, have reached out to Gov. Josh Stein to request a pause.
Tax Revaluations
The top Republican in the North Carolina Senate — who is facing a tough Republican primary challenge in his home district — is proposing a 12-month freeze on property tax revaluation changes by counties, an announcement that comes days before the election. Senate leader Phil Berger, from Rockingham County, said the break would allow lawmakers to adopt needed property tax reforms, an issue for many homeowners across the state. He plans to propose the legislation in April.
Berger, who has led the chamber since 2011, faces a stiff primary challenge from Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page, a race that has drawn national attention.
“North Carolinians are shouldering the burden of massive increases in local budgets,” Berger said in a statement. “It doesn’t matter to our citizens if a tax is paid to the state or local government; it’s their money coming out of their pockets.”
Berger previously created a 10-member committee of Republicans to examine the issue. House Speaker Destin Hall has formed a bipartisan committee to look at property taxes. The House committee met in December, January and again this month. The Senate committee has yet to meet.
Property taxes are collected by cities and states, which are in charge of setting the rates. Even if city and county leaders don’t raise rates, increasing property values can lead to higher bills for homeowners — at a time when affordability is a key issue in federal, state and local elections.
Kevin Leonard, the head of the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners, told lawmakers in January that home prices have gone up in all 71 counties that have done property revaluations in the last three years. Each of those counties lowered their property tax rates, he said. But not every county went revenue-neutral, meaning that some people still ended up paying more even though the rates went down.
Page told WRAL that he supports proposed legislation from Rep. John Blust, R-Guilford, that would require counties to keep property taxes revenue neutral after revaluations. The proposal didn’t get a vote in the House or the Senate in 2025. He said Berger could have supported that measure previously.
“If you don’t lower the tax rate to revenue neutral, it’s a tax increase,” Page said. “I don’t want to see our senior citizens who have invested in their home get taxed out of their homes.”
According to the state Department of Revenue, Wake County did its latest revaluation in 2024 and isn’t set for another one until 2027. Durham County conducted its latest revelation in 2025 and its next is set for 2029. Orange County’s next revaluation is set for 2029 and Cumberland County’s is planned for 2033.
At least a dozen counties are set for revaluations in 2026 and a quarter of North Carolina’s 100 counties are planning a revaluation in 2027.
Guilford County, which is part of Berger’s district, is in the process of a revaluation with some homeowners saying their property values have gone up 40% to 60%, according to news reports.
Microsoft Megasite:
After more than a year of speculation, Microsoft has confirmed it plans to build a new data center on 1,350 acres of land it owns in Person County. The company expects to begin the facility’s permitting process this year, according to information Microsoft provided county spokesperson Kim Strickland. “Datacenter projects are highly complex and typically span several years,” Strickland wrote in a Feb. 24 statement. Microsoft purchased the Person County Mega Park for around $27 million in October 2024. Though Microsoft didn’t share its reason for buying the campus at the time, many speculated the company intended to eventually build a mammoth “hyperscale” data center. Microsoft previously committed to invest at least $1 billion to open four data centers northwest of Charlotte in Catawba County. That project stalled last year, however, as the company scaled back its global data center investments. Microsoft confirmed its Person County data center plans after local officials encouraged they do so in order to resolve residents’ lingering questions about the campus. According to Strickland, Microsoft promised a future data center won’t spike electricity prices or reduce water sources. The company vowed to replenish more water than it consumes in developing its Person County site, she wrote.