North Carolina gained 4,500 nonfarm jobs in January, according to statistics released today by the state’s Employment Security Commission. The state’s unemployment rate edged up slightly to 9.9 percent during that time period.
“The January data reflected a gain of 4,500 jobs,” said ESC Chairman Lynn R. Holmes. “In particular, there was an indication of strong growth in the retail sector and positive growth in several sectors over the year. Our local offices continue to offer a variety of services for all of our customers statewide.”
The number of people employed (seasonally adjusted) remained flat at 4,024,435. The number of people unem-ployed increased by 3,374 workers, to 440,622.
Since this time last year, the number of people unemployed has decreased by 78,594 and the number of workers employed is down 2,841. The state unemployment rate in January 2010 was 11.4 percent.
The December 2010 rate was 9.8 percent.
Nationally, January’s unemployment rate decreased .4 of a percentage point over the month to 9.0 percent.
Since the beginning of the recession in December 2007, North Carolina’s labor force has decreased 2.1 percent, while the nation showed a loss of .5 percent. The number of people employed in North Carolina has decreased 7.1 percent compared to 4.8 percent nationally, while the number unemployed has increased 94.8 percent in North Carolina and 80.9 percent nationwide.