ASHEVILLE, N.C. —  Local workforce development leader Nathan Ramsey addressed the local low wages versus high housing costs’ dilemma in his “The State of the Local Economy” update — and he also presented an “Affordable Housing Report” — to the Asheville-based, pro-business Council of Independent Business Owner on May 1 in UNC Asheville’s Sherrill Center.

Ramsey is executive director of the Mountain Area Workforce Development Board with Land of Sky Regional Council, serving the counties of Buncombe, Henderson, Madison and Transylvania. In his talk, he also frequently referenced the Asheville Metropolitan Statistical Area, comprised of Buncombe, Henderson, Haywood and Madison counties.

An estimated 60 people attended the early-morning breakfast meeting.

In his presentation on the “State of the Local Economy,” Ramsey asserted, “Our housing challenge (in the Asheville metro area) isn’t only because our housing prices are too high, it is because our wages are below North Carolina and national averages. And our housing prices are above North Carolina and national averages. Yes, we need more housing, but we also need better-paying jobs.”

Also, he said, “Note the greatest disparity in wages are in our highest-paying occupations and sectors. It isn’t because we have more lower-paying jobs, it is because our higher-paying jobs pay much less than larger metros. 

“But don’t necessarily blame employers. Many employers are paying their workers as much as they can. Businesses in Western North Carolina are much smaller than North Carolina and national averages. 

“Small businesses cannot pay as much are large businesses. You already know this because we (the Asheville metro area) are not a place with many corporate headquarters and publicly traded companies — we are a small-business community.” 

Ramsey added, “And before you blame the hospitality and tourism sector, our region’s hospitality and tourism jobs pay more than the state average for that sector. We do have a greater share of those jobs here, which makes sense as we are a tourist mecca. But tourism isn’t our largest economic sector — not even close. Our largest sectors for economic impact are healthcare closely followed by manufacturing.”

Ramsey also reported the Asheville-area localities’ average private sector wages for 2026, including Buncombe County, $59,020; Henderson County, $54,118; Transylvania County, $49,554; Madison County, $47,226; and Haywood County, $47,053.

He added that the state’s average private sector wage in 2026 is $70,662.

Among the state localities with the top-paying private sector wages are Durham County, $102,817; Mecklenburg County, $90,706; and Wake County, $80,616; Forsyth County, $68,864; and Guilford County, $62,455.

The meeting opened with a call to order by CIBO Past President and meeting moderator John Carroll, after which Secretary-Treasurer Steve Foster led a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance. At the end of the Pledge, Foster — as usual — wryly added, “We hope!”

Next, Carroll introduced elected officials and candidates in attendance, including Charles “CJ” Domingo, who is running for the state Senate District 49 seat; and Anthony Penland, who is running for the state House of Representatives District 115 seat. Both are Republicans.

During the “UNCA minute” address, Derek Shook, director of corporate and foundation relations and university advancement, gave a high-speed update on highlights around the university, especially praising successes with UNCA’s athletics programs.

Next, Carroll introduced Ramsey, noting with a smile that Ramsey has a law degree and is “a lifelong Buncombe County resident and a dairy farmer.”

Carroll added that Ramsey previously served as a state congressman representing District 115 (including portions of Buncombe County) from 2013 to Jan. 1, 2015, and as chairman of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners for eight years (December 2000 to December 2008) during a period when he was often the only Republican member, as he focused on bipartisan solutions.

“His public service has been steadfast,” Carroll concluded.

Ramsey triggered much laughter from the meeting attendees when began his address by playfully joking that “the reason I’ve had so many jobs is because I can’t keep a job — I’ve been fired so many times!”

On a serious note, he then spoke of recovery efforts following the decimation of the area by Tropical Storm Helene on Sept. 27, 2024.

Ramsey added that F. Scott Fitzgerald and Thomas Wolfe, two famous writers with ties to Asheville, seem to agree that “death, taxes and change are the three things we have to deal with” in life. In reference to his perception that the area needs to continue to grow or it will fall into stagnation, Ramsey said of change: “It’s like the good, the bad and … the challenging parts of that... It’s a choice of growing or not... And it’s better to have the problems of a growing community than one that is not growing.”

To that end, he noted that, “over the past 20 years, we’ve added more than 100,000 people” to the Asheville Metropolitan Statistical Area, comprised of the counties of Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson and Madison counties

“There are more deaths than births in our region, so unless more people move in here, we will see our population decline,” Ramsey warned the CIBO crowd. “North Carolina is one of the fastest-growing states in the nation, but our region (lately) hasn’t grown as fast as the rest of the state...

Typically, “in the region, most of the population growth will be in Buncombe County — Henderson County will see some growth, too, but it mostly will be in Buncombe County. The good news is... we’re growing!”

While the region’s economy is growing,  “Helene significantly impacted our region’s unemployent rate,” Ramsey noted.

For instance, he said the Asheville MSA recently recorded an unemployment rate of 3.6 percent jobless rate, a big drop from 8.5 percent in October 2024 — the month following the devastation left in the area by Tropical Storm Helene on Sept. 27, 2024.

Ramsey added, “By most accounts, our visitation numbers are still down 20 percent, pre-Helene... Employers are still trying to hire... Coming out of the pandemic, we (Buncombe County) had the highest unemployment rate in the state,” after historically having the lowest — or one of the lowest jobless rates in the state.

“So we had a bigger hole to dig out of....”

Further, Ramsey said, “A lot of lower-paid workers in our community have opted to avoid a lot of our problems by moving to Greenville-Spartanburg (S.C.), Knoxville (Tenn), Charlotte” and other such cities.

In his housing report,  he said that “housing prices have moderated in our region,” where he said the median price in 2024 for a single-family house was $453,000-plus.

“Now, I hear from employers in all sizes that housing is a problem for prospective employees,” Ramsey said. “Housing is a barrier to our community. If we want to see those businesses grow, housing is key...

“Helene did bring our region together. We’re all in this together — and we’ve got to stay together...”

He added, “So we know there’s a shortage of rental units... Lately, there’s been some moderation in higher end units.”

Also, Ramsey pointed out, “The problem with more housing is people love Hendersonville ‘just the way it is’” without more traffic and other stressors on the infrastructure. And, he said, the same holds true in the other local cities and towns, meaning the resident see the need for more affordable housing, while holding a “not in my backyard” attitude.

Ramsey admitted that, when significant additional affordable housing is added to an area, “There are a lot of impacts when you do that...

“So if you look at growth in the future, those households earning over $100,000 are growing faster... The good news is we have an increasing number of households making more money.”

The lack of affordable housing “is not just a Buncombe County and City of Asheville problem, it is a regionwide challenge,” Ramsey said. “So think of people who work every day — law enforcement, health care workers... Will they be able to afford to live here?” 

He noted that Henderson County Sheriff Lowell Griffin recently stated that more than half of his police force live outside of Henderson County, “with a good number living in (lower-cost areas of) South Carolina...

“If you look at health care, we’re ‘overweight’ on health care and ‘under-weight” in government. Manufacturing is just behind health care... Manufacturing has had a lot of impact.. I don’t know that we’ll ever meet the need for healthcare workers.”

Also, Ramsey stated, “The fastest-growing part of our population is people age 85-and over,” which is resulting in a need for more workers to care for them.

He then reiterated, “I hope between the pandemic and Helene, the only thing worse than people visiting your community is people not visiting your community.”

Turning to the topic of higher education, Ramsey said, “Most people need some education beyond high school... There’s a lot of negativity out about four-year degrees... The best investment you can make is in yourself.”

He added, “We (local workforce development officials) are going to an AI (artificial intelligence) summit soon... With AI, it will open up a lot of opportunities to learn. There are a lot of jobs that AI never will be able to do.”

In summarizing his presentations, Ramsey said, “the longer term challenge we all have is that we’re all aging — and we’re going to have to find workers to take those jobs” to take care of the area’s skyrocketing elderly population.

Further, he said, “What makes me bullish on Western North Carolina is that, while “locally we hear a lot of criticism, but when I go somewhere and tell them where I’m from, nobody responds in a negative way...

“My fear is, if we don’t get ahead of the curve, we’ll be like a Highlands or Cashiers, where nobody who works there can afford to live there,” Ramsey said in concluding his talk.