Surry Business

Economic activity in northwest North Carolina warmed up slightly in September, despite job losses as plants closed in Mount Airy, according to the Piedmont Triad Business Index created by Dr. Donald Jud of the Bryan School of Business & Economics at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro.

The Piedmont Triad Index was up 0.3 percent in September, matching the increase in the national Index of Leading Indicators.

In the Piedmont Triad the greatest growth has been in the service-producing sector, where the number of jobs increased another 0.1 percent in September. Over the past 12 months, the number of jobs in the Piedmont Triad’s service-producing sector has grown 2.5 percent.

“Over the past year, service-producing employment has grown most rapidly in business services and leisure services, where employment has increased 5.0 and 4.3 percent respectively,” according to the report posted Nov. 2 on the UNCG web site.