Remember a few months ago when we told you Charlotte ranked number 2 in job creation last year only behind New York City? Well, the Labor Department has now revised those numbers and Charlotte fell a few places. But we’re still near the top of U.S. cities. For more on what’s behind the change, the Charlotte Ledger’s Tony Mecia joined for our segment BizWorthy.
Marshall Terry: So what is this actually measuring, and what do those revised numbers say?
Tony Mecia: You might recall these are numbers looking at how many jobs the Charlotte region and other cities created in 2025. Initially that number was put at close to 38,000 for 2025, but the Labor Department revised the statistics. It says for Charlotte it's now about 14,000. We thought we were second best. We're really now 5th best. Still pretty good. We're still creating a lot of jobs.
Terry: So why are these numbers revised?
Mecia: This is something routine that the Labor Department does as it gets more data. This is kind of typical to see some of these initial numbers get revised lower. That happened here. It hit Charlotte maybe a little more than some of these other ones. But the numbers now show that Dallas-Fort Worth created the most jobs in 2025, about 28,000, followed by San Jose, Raleigh, Las Vegas, and then Charlotte.
Terry: Let’s talk about some booze news now. Liquor suppliers and North Carolina’s hospitality industry are opposed to a plan by regulators to impose minimum prices at ABC stores. Why are they opposed and why does the state want to make this change?
Mecia: It's kind of an interesting question. Usually, you think if suppliers want to cut prices and pass those along to consumers that's a good thing. But the North Carolina ABC Commission said it was becoming alarmed that some liquor suppliers were cutting their prices a lot to try to ramp up sales. They said that that's not really healthy. It's not in the public's interest to have cut-rate liquor prices. So what they did is they suggested a new pricing scheme that would create minimum levels of prices. Some of the liquor suppliers don't like that. They say that that's not legal, that the ABC Commission can't do that. Sazerac, which is a bourbon supplier and has a bunch of other different kinds of liquor, they've objected. The ABC Commission has said it's going to study it and should have a little bit more to say on that in a couple of months.
Terry: You had a recent podcast episode that made a fun declaration: Charlotte is now a food city. We are?
Mecia: Well Charlotte certainly is starting to identify as a food city. We talked with Kristen Wile of the publication Unpretentious Palate. She made the point that there are a lot of chefs here, a lot of new restaurants, a lot of acclaim coming to the city. Top Chef was filmed here. One of the restaurants, Counter-, got a Michelin star. A number of other restaurants have been recognized for being great places. I don't know whether we're still on the level with a lot of other food cities, but certainly I think our stock is rising.
Terry: Speaking of Counter-, it is one of the hottest restaurants in Charlotte, and it’s offering a multi-course meal that will only set you back an eye-popping $1,500. Do I also get World Cup tickets for that price?
Mecia: It's a good question. You would think you might want to or maybe tickets to the NBA Finals or something like that. Counter-, which is in Wesley Heights, they got that Michelin star, the only restaurant in Charlotte to do that. They're having a two-night special dinner in October. The tickets are $1,500 a person. It does include champagne and caviar. It's a 10-12 course tasting menu, but it seems to be sort of pushing the upper limits maybe of what people might pay.
Support for BizWorthy comes from the law office of Robertson & Associates and Central Piedmont Community College.
