North Carolina has lost 216,000 factory jobs since 1998 and its unemployment fund is running a deficit because of the surge in jobless and long-term unemployed. Part of the problem is competition from cheap foreign textiles, especially China. It is expected that the situation will only worsen when worldwide quotas on textiles and apparel expire under World Trade Organization rules.
See "North Carolina becoming threadbare textile center", Stephen Franklin, Chicago Tribune, May 31, 2004