The national unemployment rate is hovering at 10 percent, while in North Carolina, according to the latest report by the state’s Employment Security Commission (NCESC), statewide unemployment reached 11.8 percent in February.
These numbers highlight a troubling trend – a consistently high and increasing rate of unemployment. Since the economic downturn, North Carolina has experienced a continual increase in the unemployment rate. This latest report marks a 0.1 percent increase from the past month and an overall 1.2 percent gain over the year.
Unemployment increased in 58 of North Carolina’s 100 counties in February, decreased in 19 counties, and remained the same in 23. A large majority of the state’s counties, 58 of 100, reported an unemployment rate above the statewide unadjusted unemployment rate of 11.8 percent, and 87 counties reported double digit unemployment.
$211.9 million have been spent to fund regular unemployment insurance benefits in February – that’s a total of $5.2 billion in the last year in North Carolina.
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