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NC unemployment rate dips slightly in October

The state reports the addition of 5,500 jobs last month, easing the jobless rate down from 10.5 percent in September. However, more people apply for and receive unemployment benefits.

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RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina’s unemployment rate fell slightly in October, to 10.4 percent from 10.5 percent in September as the economy added 5,500 jobs.

However, the jobless rate is still half a percentage point higher than a year ago, when unemployment was 9.9 percent. The 10.5 percent rate in September was the highest in the past year.

Of the new jobs, 700 were added in the private sector, the state Employment Security Commission reported Tuesday.

The number of people employed grew to just over 4.038 million, while the number of unemployed fell by more than 8,000.

The size of the state's labor force fell by some 2,500, to 4,504,834, indicating a decline in the number of people no longer looking for work or receiving jobless benefits.

Numbers were seasonally adjusted.

The number of initial claims for unemployment benefits increased by 3,327. The number of people receiving benefits climbed to 108,197, up 480 from September.

National unemployment in October was 9 percent, compared with 9.7 percent a year earlier.

"The data reflects that the private sector employment grew this month – as it has done in eight of the past 10 months – and that there was a modest decline in the unemployment rate," Lynn Holmes, assistant secretary for employment security within the state Department of Commerce, said in a statement.

County by county jobless rates will be reported Dec. 1.

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