The Triad's jobless rate dipped back almost into single digits in March, dropping 0.4 percentage points to 10 percent, the N.C. Employment Security Commission reported Wednesday.
It is the lowest rate for the Triad since 9.7 percent in October.
The rates for the Winston-Salem metropolitan statistical area and Forsyth County also decreased by 0.4 percentage points to 9.4 percent and 9.2 percent, respectively.
Perhaps more encouraging is that the rate decline over the past two months 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 8,583 more people as employed in March, which is on top of a 2,588 increase in February.
By comparison, there were 1,990 fewer people listed as unemployed in March compared with 3,187 fewer in February.
"I am encouraged due to people going back to work," said Archie Hicks, the manager of the commission's Winston-Salem office.
"However, it is somewhat leavened by the fact that one would have to go back several years to see the labor force numbers this low (173,273 in Forsyth).
"Coming out of the recent recession is simply going to be a hard, long slog, but we are seeing more optimism on the part of employers and job seekers," Hicks said.
The Winston-Salem MSA — consisting of Davie, Forsyth, Stokes and Yadkin counties — had a net gain of 1,100 jobs during the month.
The sector with the biggest increase was education and health services at 400, along with 300 in the trade, transportation and utilities sector. There was a loss of 200 professional and business-services jobs.
All 14 counties in the Triad and Northwest North Carolina had a rate decrease. Alleghany County had the largest drop at 1.3 percentage points to 12.2 percent, followed by Rockingham County at 1.1 percentage points to 11.5 percent.
Although the gain in jobs in the Triad is encouraging, the rate of hiring, particularly for full-time positions, is still not meeting the need, said John Quinterno, a principal with South by North Strategies Ltd., a Chapel Hill research firm specializing in economic and social policy.
"While some meaningful progress has been made over the last year, local labor markets remain far from healthy," Quinterno said.
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