The state's unemployment rate increased for the first time in five months during October, rising 0.2 percentage points to 11 percent, the N.C. Employment Security Commission reported today.
It is the ninth consecutive month that the figure has been higher than 10 percent, peaking so far during the recession at 11.1 percent in May.
A major factor in the increased rate in October is that 4,537 more North Carolinians were considered as unemployed to 496,279. The state's labor force also declined by 1,105 to about 4.5 million. Those numbers are seasonally adjusted by the commission.
Moses Carey Jr., the chairman of the commission, chose to take a half-full approach to the rate increase, saying that the job market has stayed fairly steady - at a high level - since February.
"We've had ups and downs concerning the number of people employed and unemployed, but we haven't experienced any significant changes," Carey said. "We are working as quickly as possible to implement the new extension of benefits for those individuals who have exhausted or about to exhaust their benefits."
Some economists have said that if the underemployed - those working in jobs below their skill level for the sake of earning a paycheck - the stay-at-home parent, the retiree and the discouraged are factored into the jobless rate, it could be as much as 2.5 percentage points higher.
Despite the rate increase, the commission reported that most employment categories had net gains during October.
There was a net gain of 5,800 government and 5,600 educational and health services jobs, along with 2,600 in professional and business services and 1,900 in manufacturing.
There was a loss of 6,600 construction jobs during the month.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement