The Triad’s unemployment rate dropped for the fifth time in six months during August, slipping to 10.2 percent from 10.4 percent in July, the N.C. Employment Security Commission reported today.
The jobless rates for the Winston-Salem metropolitan statistical area and Forsyth County also dropped by 0.2 percentage points to 9.3 percent and 9.4 percent, respectively.
The rates decreased in 13 of the 14 counties in the Triad and Northwest North Carolina, with Alleghany County have the largest drop of 0.5 percentage points to 9.6 percent. Rockingham County’s rate was unchanged at 11.4 percent.
There was a net gain of about 9,100 jobs in the Winston-Salem and Greensboro-High Point MSAs of Davie, Forsyth, Guilford, Randolph, Rockingham, Stokes and Yadkin counties.
Of those jobs, 6,800 are government jobs, likely public-school teachers being rehired for the current school year. Teachers are counted as unemployed when their annual contracts expire.
There also were a combined net gain of 1,200 in the trade, transportation and utilities sectors, 900 in professional and business services and 300 in manufacturing.
However, there also was a 4,886 decline in the Triad’s labor force to 780,488, which likely indicates more local residents opted to stop looking for work.
“We are continuing to see a combination of lower employment and lower unemployment,” said Todd Cherry, the director of the Center for Economic Research and Policy Analysis at Appalachian State University.
“That suggests that people are working part time when they are unable to secure full-time work, while others are simply becoming discouraged in their search for full-time employment and are leaving the work force.”
Although the jobless rate dropped in 82 counties statewide, “current economic conditions continue to be a challenge for many communities across North Carolina as the unemployment rate remains at 10 percent or over in half of the counties,” said Lynn Holmes, the chairwoman of the commission.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement