Unemployment swells across N.C.

Raleigh, N.C. — Unemployment rose in 97 of North Carolina's 100 counties in December, and more than a third of the state is reporting jobless rates of at least 10 percent, officials said Friday.

“Every corner of North Carolina is feeling the effects of our national economy," Moses Carey, chairman of the state Employment Security Commission, said in a statement. "Layoffs and cutbacks have taken a toll on many of our sectors, including retail during the holiday season, professional and business services, along with construction and manufacturing."

Total employment decreased in December by 56,400 workers, while the number of unemployed again set a record, increasing to 383,528 workers from 355,838 in November.

Orange County had the state’s lowest unemployment rate at 4.8 percent, the only county in North Carolina with unemployment below 5 percent. Scotland County had the highest unemployment rate at 13.9 percent.

The only areas across the state not to see higher unemployment in December were Chatham and Granville counties, where the rates dropped slightly, and Greene County, where it remained steady.

Wake County saw its unemployment rise from 5.8 percent in November to 6.1 percent, and Durham's rate went from 5.8 percent to 6.2 percent. Unemployment in Cumberland County rose from 7.5 to 7.9 percent, and Johnston County's rate went from 7.4 to 8 percent.

Thirty-four counties have unemployment rates of 10 percent or higher, twice the number that reported double-digit rates in November.

The statewide unemployment rate was 8.5 percent in December, the highest rate since June 1983.

24 Comments

WRAL.com welcomes your comments on this story. All comments are moderated prior to publication based on our posting guidelines. Please review them prior to posting and if your message is not approved.

VIEW ALL 24 COMMENTS

This story is closed for comments. Comments on WRAL.com news stories are accepted and moderated between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Latest Comments

Why is this month old report on here? We got these hard figures a few weeks ago. January's report will be much worse. I'm sure the news will just love it. (Ssshhhhh - Don't tell anybody but housing sales are slightly up.)

veyor
January 30, 2009 3:40 p.m.

Here are some ideas. Let's elect a socialist President who will bring us down to the level of penniless serfs.....wait we already did that. Ok we elect a socialist governor and then we sell tickets to her birthday party for thousands of dollars and then...........wait we did that too. Ok how about this one. We elect liberals to be in charge of our legislature like Basnight and Hackney and they will magically save the state by creating ever larger budgets and borrowing money from the federal government to sacrifice our sovereignty as a state on the altar of liberal......wait we already did that too. I guess I am just fresh out of ideas. As Winton Churchill said. Americans will do the right thing after exhausting every other possibility first.

ifcdirector
January 30, 2009 3:06 p.m.

In addition, “they are realizing more of their gains due to the lower tax rate,” Baker said.

The data show that the population of the top 400 income- earners has fluctuated over the 15 years the agency has tracked it, according to an analysis by the Washington-based Tax Foundation, a research group. Some 3,305 different taxpayers have been included at least once on the list, the Tax Foundation said. Only 27 percent of those taxpayers have appeared more than once on the list, and only about 15 percent have been on it more than twice.

Your Ignorance is Bliss
January 30, 2009 2:03 p.m.

Jan. 30 (Bloomberg) -- The average tax rate paid by the richest 400 Americans fell by a third to 17.2 percent through the first six years of the Bush administration and their average income doubled to $263.3 million, new IRS data show.

The 17.2 percent tax rate in 2006 was the lowest since the IRS began tracking the 400 largest taxpayers in 1992. The drop from 2001’s tax rate of 22.9 percent was due largely to ex- President George W. Bush’s push to cut tax rates on most capital gains to 15 percent in 2003.

Capital gains made up 63 percent of the richest 400 Americans’ adjusted gross income in 2006, or a combined $66.1 billion, according to the data. In all, the 400 wealthiest Americans reported a combined $105.3 billion of adjusted gross income in 2006, the most recent year for which the IRS has data.

Your Ignorance is Bliss
January 30, 2009 2:03 p.m.

so conniebritt....you JUST MADE a great point!!!! NO GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES live the "Good life" as you so eloquently put it.....now THAT'S something to aspire to!!! welcome to socialism!