The number of unemployment claims filed in northeastern North Carolina and along the Outer Banks dropped in September, while the number of workers available also shrank as students and teachers left summer jobs to return to school.
The N.C. Department of Commerce reported unemployment in the 12-county region went from 4 percent in August to 3.6 percent in September, as 3,447 jobless claims were filed out of a total available workforce of 95,449.
In the three Outer Banks counties of Currituck, Dare and Hyde, jobless rates averaged 3 percent to close out the season, a 0.2 percent decline from the prior month. Claims were filed by 1,112 members of the 37,447 workforce in the three counties.
The main decline in the work-eligible population in September happened in the Outer Banks counties, with 2,407 less workers between August and September. Another 387 left the workforce in the other nine counties.
Currituck had the lowest unemployment rate in the area at 2.8 percent in August, followed by Dare at 3 percent, Camden 3.2 percent, Gates 3.3 percent, Chowan and Perquimans 3.8 percent, Hyde 4 percent, Bertie 4.4 percent, Hertford and Tyrrell 4.6 percent, and Washington 4.8 percent.
Unemployment rates, not seasonally adjusted, decreased in 99 of North Carolina’s counties in September and increased in one. And the September not seasonally adjusted statewide rate was 3.3 percent, down from 3.9 percent in August.
Warren County had the highest unemployment rate at 7.6 percent while Orange and Buncombe Counties each had the lowest at 2.6 percent.
All fifteen of the state’s metro areas experienced rate decreases. Among the metro areas, Rocky Mount had the highest rate at 5.5 percent while Asheville and Durham-Chapel Hill each had the lowest at 2.7 percent.
The number of workers employed statewide (not seasonally adjusted) increased in September by 35,919 to 4,951,030, while those unemployed decreased by 29,687 to 169,997. Since September 2021, the number of workers employed statewide increased 174,474, while those unemployed decreased 35,405.