Despite a heavily publicized boycott of North Carolina after it passed a controversial transgender bathroom law last March, the state's economy continues to be a regional and national powerhouse, The Washington Times has reported.
Economic indicators released for 2016 indicate that the state's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate did not rise following the boycott and that North Carolina ranked fourth in the nation for attracting and expanding businesses.
In addition, North Carolina finished first for drawing corporate facilities in the eight-state South Atlantic region and tourism thrived as hotel room rates and demand for rooms both set records last year, the Times reported.
The state was the first in the nation to pass a law that forbids transgender people from using the bathrooms or locker rooms of the gender with which they identify in government facilities such as schools or parks.
Despite high-profile cancellations of the NBA All-Star Game, numerous NCAA championship matches, and several concerts, including one by Bruce Springsteen, North Carolina Lieutenant Gov. Dan Forest, a Republican, said the economic effect of the boycott in his state was "less than one-tenth of 1 percent" of the state's annual gross domestic product.
Former Democratic state legislator Chris Sgro, who now heads EqualityNC, disputed that assessment, saying that the economic figures do not take into account revenues that were lost due to the boycott and that the economy would have been even more vibrant if not for the bathroom law.
Politifact reported that the truth appears to be somewhere in between, as North Carolina did have less business than it would have without the boycott, but the losses did not nearly reach what Sgro claimed.
Although North Carolina's economy has been harmed by the law, the economy in its entirety is large enough that it would take much more serious setbacks than have been registered to add up to even a 1 percent loss.
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