By Mark Wineka
mwineka@salisburypost.com
Rowan County’s jobless rate kept rising in March, ending at 12.8 percent, according to the Employment Security Commission of North Carolina.
February’s unemployment rate in Rowan rate was 12 percent.
Seventy-five percent of N.C. counties have unemployment rates of 10 percent or more.
Out of a labor force of 73,152 in Rowan County, 9,339 were receiving unemployment insurance benefits, according to the ESC.
Scotland County had the state’s highest jobless rate in March at 16.6 percent; Orange County, the lowest, at 6.1 percent.
Here are the unemployment rates in the counties touching Rowan and their changes since February:
– Cabarrus County, 11.3 percent, up from 11.1 percent.
– Davidson County, 13.4 percent, which was the same in February.
– Davie County, 11.7 percent, up from 11.2 percent.
– Iredell County, 12.7 percent, down from 12.9 percent.
– Stanly County, 12.4 percent, up from 12.2 percent.