Topics Related to Workforce

Unemployment rates (not seasonally adjusted) decreased in 93 of North Carolina’s counties in August, increased in two, and remained unchanged in five. Scotland County had the highest unemployment rate at 8.7 percent while Chatham, Avery, Ashe, and Orange Counties each had the lowest at 3.4 percent. All fifteen of the state’s metro areas experienced rate decreases. Among the metro areas, Fayetteville and Rocky Mount each had the highest rate at 6.4 percent while Durham-Chapel Hill and Raleigh each had the lowest at 3.7 percent.

The state’s seasonally adjusted August unemployment rate was 4.3 percent, decreasing 0.1 of a percentage point from July’s revised rate. The national rate decreased 0.2 of a percentage point to 5.2 percent.

North Carolina’s August 2021 unemployment rate decreased 2.5 percentage points from a year ago. The number of people employed increased 17,609 over the month to 4,794,967 and increased 215,224 over the year. The number of people unemployed decreased 5,848 over the month to 216,607 and decreased 114,951 over the year.

Unemployment rates (not seasonally adjusted) decreased in 99 of North Carolina’s counties in July and remained unchanged in one. Scotland County had the highest unemployment rate at 9.1 percent while Avery County had the lowest at 3.5 percent. All fifteen of the state’s metro areas experienced rate decreases. Among the metro areas, Rocky Mount had the highest rate at 6.7 percent while Durham-Chapel Hill and Raleigh each had the lowest at 3.9 percent. The July not seasonally adjusted statewide rate was 4.6 percent.

The state’s seasonally adjusted July unemployment rate was 4.4 percent, decreasing 0.2 of a percentage point from June’s revised rate. The national rate decreased 0.5 of a percentage point to 5.4 percent.

North Carolina’s July 2021 unemployment rate decreased 4.4 percentage points from a year ago. The number of people employed increased 8,361 over the month to 4,777,400 and increased 278,125 over the year. The number of people unemployed decreased 9,579 over the month to 222,315 and decreased 210,978 over the year.

North Carolina will add a new type of targeted workforce training grant to the state’s economic development toolkit, Commerce Secretary Machelle Baker Sanders announced today.  Up to $1 million will be available to fund grants during the 2021-2022 fiscal year.

Unemployment rates (not seasonally adjusted) increased in 99 of North Carolina’s counties in June and decreased in one. Scotland County had the highest unemployment rate at 9.4 percent while Orange County had the lowest at 3.7 percent. All fifteen of the state’s metro areas experienced rate increases. Among the metro areas, Rocky Mount had the highest rate at 7.1 percent while Durham-Chapel Hill had the lowest at 4.1 percent. The June not seasonally adjusted statewide rate was 4.9 percent.

The North Carolina Department of Commerce today released the Economic Development Strategic Plan for the State of North Carolina. The plan, titled First in Talent, recognizes that investing in North Carolina’s workforce is the key to building a more prosperous and resilient economy for all North Carolinians.

The comprehensive economic development plan is a four-year plan that identifies three key goals critical to the state’s economic development strategy:

The state’s seasonally adjusted June unemployment rate was 4.6 percent, decreasing 0.2 of a percentage point from May’s revised rate. The national rate increased 0.1 of a percentage point to 5.9 percent.

North Carolina’s June 2021 unemployment rate decreased 4.2 percentage points from a year ago. The number of people employed increased 12,600 over the month to 4,769,929 and increased 365,146 over the year. The number of people unemployed decreased 8,422 over the month to 231,636 and decreased 192,329 over the year.

One year after Governor Roy Cooper announced the launch of NCcareers.org, a comprehensive career information system, NCcareers.org has experienced 1.3 million page views with more than 178,300 unique users exploring occupations in North Carolina.

The North Carolina Department of Commerce has awarded grants totaling almost $288,000 to support three innovative youth workforce development projects, N.C. Governor Roy Cooper announced today.

“Business leaders tell me their number one need is skilled talent, especially as we emerge from the pandemic. These Youth Initiative Grants will help those businesses by preparing young people with the experience and training they need to get the good paying jobs they provide,” said Governor Cooper.