The Triad's jobless rate dropped in February, sliding to 10.3 percent from 10.7 percent in January, the N.C. Employment Security Commission reported Wednesday. And Forsyth County's rate declined to 9.5 percent from 9.8 percent.
Perhaps more encouraging is that the decline appears to have been caused more by an increase in hiring rather than more people exiting the job market.
When people who are unemployed stop looking for work, the commission does not count them as jobless, which can lower the unemployment rate.
The commission listed 2,588 more people as employed in the Triad, as well as 3,187 fewer listed as unemployed.
"The number we see going back to work is trending up each month," said Archie Hicks, manager of the commission's office in Winston-Salem.
The jobless rate for the Winston-Salem metropolitan statistical area dropped to 9.7 percent from a revised 10 percent in January. The MSA consists of Davie, Forsyth, Stokes and Yadkin counties.
There was a net gain of 500 jobs in the Winston-Salem MSA, including 200 each in government and education and business services. There also was a loss of 200 jobs in the trade, transportation and utilities sector.
Michael Walden, an economics professor at N.C. State University, said he believes the return of consumer spending is the main reason behind the job growth.
"Consumer spending took off during Christmas and has not fallen back," Walden said.
"However, this leads to a worry. If gas prices remain lofty — in the $3.50 range — then consumers may very well cut back on non-gas spending in order to afford the higher pump prices," Walden said. "Still, I am optimistic, and I do forecast continued growth."
"While February was the best month of job growth seen in North Carolina in some time, that growth did not radically alter local labor market conditions," said John Quinterno, a principal with South by North Strategies, a Chapel Hill research firm specializing in economic and social policy.
"Sizable portions of local labor forces are out of work, and new jobs remain difficult to find."
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