RALEIGH ó Unemployment rates dropped in 59 counties in July, according to statistics released Friday by the state’s Employment Security Commission.
But Rowan County’s rate actually rose 0.8 percent, to 13.8 percent.
Rates increased in 28 other counties, and remained the same in 12.
Rates mostly went up in the counties surrounding Rowan:
– Cabarrus, 11.6 percent, down from 11.6.
– Davie, unchanged at 12.3 percent.
– Davidson, 13.5 percent, up from 13.3.
– Iredell, 13 percent, up from 12.8.
– Stanly, 12.6 percent, up from 12.4.
Salisbury falls in the combined statistical area of Charlotte-Gastonia-Salisbury, N.C.-S.C., which reports a 13 percent overall unemployment rate.
Rowan’s numbers show 70,837 in the labor force; 61,040 employed and 9,797 unemployed.
Cabarrus has more people in the labor force with 83,239, and more people employed, 73,553, but the number of unemployed is similar at 9,686, leading to that county’s lower rate of 11.6 percent.
“Employment growth was modest in many of our counties in July,” said state ESC Chairman Moses Carey Jr.
“The coastal counties traditionally experience rate decreases due to tourism and the need for summer workers. The rest of the state has not had as much summer hiring compared to previous years, but there was enough to drop the rates in more than half of the state’s 100 counties.”
North Carolina had 48 counties which were at or below the state’s unadjusted unemployment rate of 11.1 percent.
Rates decreased in nine of the state’s Metropolitan Statistical Areas, increased in three and remained the same in two.
Total county employment (not seasonally adjusted) increased in July by 3,275 workers, to 4,085,203. Not-seasonally adjusted unemployment decreased, by 2,738 workers. The unemployment total in July was 511,519 workers, compared with 514,257 in June.
Both Currituck and Hyde counties had the state’s lowest unemployment rate in July, at 5.5 percent. Meanwhile, Scotland County had the highest unemployment rate, at 17.1 percent.
The five counties receiving the highest amount in unemployment insurance benefits in July were: Mecklenburg, $24.6 million; Wake, $19.3 million; Guilford, $12.1 million; Forsyth, $7.4 million; and Gaston, $6.9 million.
In July, $218.3 million in benefits was paid to 234,803 individuals statewide, compared with $258.1 million to 240,569 individuals in June.