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Associate Professor of Economics Brandon Sheridan was featured in a recent report from the Burlington Times-News on the rise of unemployment in Alamance County from October to September.

by Paul B. Johnson states that Alamance County has reached a point where the county’s job market stood before the pandemic, which is close to the lowest unemployment levels it has had in the 21st century.

“That being said, I think there is more potential for conditions to worsen than improve over the coming months,” Sheridan said. “With more interest rate hikes on the horizon, residential and business construction will likely decline. The Fed is doing its best to ensure this is a minimal decline, but only time will tell if they are able to thread that needle.”

Sheridan told the Times-News that the Federal Reserve Board’s attempt to curb inflation through interest rate increases will determine the direction of the economy.

“I think it is clear that the Fed’s interest rate hikes are having the expected effect,” Sheridan said. “That is, although inflation rates are starting to slow down, there are some slow-moving downward trends in employment.”