After months of relative stability, North Carolina’s unemployment rate jumped to an all-time high in January.

According to the latest statistics released by the Employment Security Commission of North Carolina, the state unemployment rate reached a record 11.1 percent as the number of people without a job surged past half a million. The rate hovered around 10.9 percent since last May but increased despite the ESC announcing the state actually experienced some job growth.

“North Carolina gained 8,000 jobs in January,” new ESC Chairman Lynn Holmes said. “However, we must be cautious and realize that we have a long way to go to get back to pre-recession employment levels.”

Trade, Transportation and Utilities employment accounted for gaining all 8,000 jobs in January with Construction experiencing the largest decrease, losing 5,000. In the past year, unemployment increased by 82,208 people and employment fell by 123,732 workers. Last January’s unemployment rate registered 9.2 percent, and the total number of people actively looking for work who can’t find a job in the state is 502,533.

“We did have a lot more people in the labor force find employment,” said ESC spokesperson Larry Parker. “Unfortunately, not everyone found employment and that increased the unemployment rate slightly. Even when an economic situation gets better, you get more people entering the labor force looking for work and sometimes that drives the unemployment rate up. We’ve been pretty consistent since May.”

There is good news for those receiving unemployment benefits. The Senate passed a bill on Wednesday that extends the Emergency Unemployment Compensation program through the end of the year. The previous extension was set to expire on April 5.

“The program initially was scheduled to end at the end of December,” Parker said. “If someone just entered their first extension [of unemployment benefits] and the program ended in April, there would no chance to get the same money others have already received. This should help a lot of folks continue receiving their benefits. We had 6,500 people the last week of February run out of unemployment.”

Staff Writer Eliot Duke can be reached at 888-3578, or duke@tvilletimes.com.