A version of the following article appeared in the Wednesday, August 19, 2026, edition of The Charlotte Ledger, an e-newsletter with local business-y news and insights for Charlotte, N.C.
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For some, finding a job can be harder than the city’s booming economy might suggest
Natalia Aguilar, left, and her mentor, Amanda, are pictured in 2021 at her senior signing day, an UrbanPromise ceremony for high school students’ next steps. (Photo courtesy of Brooke Brown Photography)
by Ashley Fahey
Natalia Aguilar thought being bilingual, having a master’s degree and pursuing a career in social work — an industry with a well-documented labor shortage — would make her a competitive candidate in the job market.
But Aguilar, the daughter of immigrants and the first in her family to go to college, didn’t anticipate how hard it would be to land a full-time job after getting her bachelor’s degree, followed by a Master of Social Work, from UNC Charlotte in May 2025. She was excited to be given an offer as a substance-use counselor three months after graduation — only for the company to call her shortly before her start date to say it could no longer hire her.
“To have to start over was really hard,” she said.
After applying for dozens of jobs, even ones that she didn’t think she had enough experience for or that advertised lower-than-hoped-for pay, Aguilar secured a job at a clinic and started there in early October. But, she said, she was seeing dozens of patients a day and felt herself quickly burning out. Aguilar left that job in December and restarted her search — for the third time in less than a year.
Finally, she landed a job at a psychiatric hospital in Charlotte in February, a role she says she’s happy in and believes will be a stable, long-term fit.
“It’s been a long up and down,” Aguilar said. “I can’t believe I have the job that I do. As a new clinician, there’s honestly no place I'd rather be.”
Charlotte has enjoyed a recent spate of major economic development announcements and arguably has one of the strongest job markets in the country. But not every economic development win benefits Charlotteans equally, and it comes amid a more competitive labor market and rising cost of living.
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