According to statistics released by the Employment Commission of North Carolina, statewide unemployment fell to 10.8 percent in April, marking the second consecutive month the number has decreased. The unemployment rate has fallen nearly a half a percent since reaching an all-time high of 11.2 percent in February, and is at its lowest mark since last April’s 10.7 percent. The number of people employed across North Carolina went up by more 22,000 workers in April while the number of unemployed decreased by 16,516.
“There is some good news in the April data,” ESC Chairman Lynn Holmes said. “North Carolina gained jobs for the second consecutive month, however, we have seen some variation in the sectors experiencing growth. While overall job growth is up and the unemployment rate is slightly lower, we still face challenges in this tough economy. We will still be working, as always, with customers across the state in numerous ways to provide benefits and job search help.”
The largest job sector employment increase came in professional and business services and government, as each gained 6,300 and 6,000 jobs, respectively. ESC spokesperson Larry Parker said much of the government jobs were primarily for the Census, and that decreases in retail trade and leisure employment is concerning when it comes to the state recovering from the recession.
“There’s a large number of people who became employed in April and that’s a good thing,” said Parker. “One of the things we’re cautious about is when looking for a trend we’ve had different job sectors experience gains the last couple of months. Some were down this month but up last month, and vice versa. We don’t have that consistency in some of the job sectors right now.”
Parker noted that North Carolina has seen job growth in three of the last four months heading into summer, where the unemployment rate may jump as high school and college students enter the labor force. Retail trade is expected to do well this time of year, but the job sector was down in April, as well as leisure and hospitality.
“We hope that next month those two turn around,” Parker said. “There was an increase in temporary help, and when companies are hiring temp help that means they’re trying to get work done, and that’s a positive. Some of those may turn into full-time positions.”
There are currently 491,467 people actively looking for work in the state, and employment since last April is down by 1,819 workers. North Carolina’s unemployment rate is still above the national rate of 9.9 percent.
Staff Writer Eliot Duke can be reached at 888-3578, or duke@tvilletimes.com.
we’ve added jobs for the second straight month.
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