Unemployment claims in northeastern North Carolina and the Outer Banks took their traditional summer dip in July to their lowest levels since prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, with Dare County having the lowest jobless rate for the month.
Average, not seasonally adjusted unemployment in the 12 northeastern counties was at 4 percent in July, down one-half a percent from June but 0.3 percent above the statewide rate of 3.7 percent.
Dare County was at 3.1 percent, an improvement of 0.6 percent from the previous month, and 1.5 percent better than July 2021. Currituck was second lowest in the area at 3.2 percent, a 0.4 percent drop from June and 0.8 percent better from the year before.
Average unemployment in the three Outer Banks counties was at 3.2 percent, where just 1,273 members of a workforce of 39,854 had filed a jobless claim in July.
Pasquotank’s rate of 4.5 percent was 0.3 percent better than June and a 1.2 percent decrease from July 2021.
Scotland County had the state’s highest unemployment rate at 7.6 percent while Buncombe, Swain, and Chatham Counties each had the lowest at 2.9 percent.
All fifteen of the state’s metro areas experienced rate decreases. Among the metro areas, Rocky Mount had the highest rate at 6.0 percent while Asheville had the lowest at 2.9 percent.
The number of workers employed statewide (not seasonally adjusted) increased in July by 31,277 to 4,966,822, while those unemployed decreased by 18,851 to 190,340.
Since July 2021, the number of workers employed statewide increased 214,946, while those unemployed decreased 65,092.
