Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

In April 2020, unemployment rates (not seasonally adjusted) increased in all 100 of North Carolina’s counties.

Dare County had the highest unemployment rate at 24.5% based on a labor force of 20,221 and unemployed at 4,949 people.

In Northeast North Carolina, Currituck had a rate of 13.4%; Hyde, 14.8%; and Tyrrell, 14.4%.

Bertie County had the lowest at 6.4%. All 15 of the state’s metro areas experienced rate increases. Among the metro areas, Durham-Chapel Hill and Greenville each had the lowest rate at 9.5 percent, according to information released June 3 by the North Carolina Department of Commerce.

The April not seasonally adjusted statewide rate was 12.5 percent.

Statewide, March revised rates showed 71 counties with rates below 5%; 28 counties with rates between 5% and 10%. In March 2020, only one county had an unemployment rate above 10%.

In April, the figures are reversed. No county had a rate below 5%. Counties with rates between 5% and 10% numbered 23. Some 77 counties had unemployment rates above 10%.

According to the North Carolina Department of Commerce, in April the number of workers employed statewide (not seasonally adjusted) decreased by 676,373 to 4,090,238.

The next unemployment update is scheduled for Friday, June 19, 2020, when the state unemployment rate for May 2020 will be released.

From March 15 to June 4, 2020, 1,003,389 North Carolinians filed unemployment insurance claims. On June 4, 10,282 individuals filed claims, as reported by the North Carolina Division of Economic Security.

From March 15, claimants paid total 675,976. The amount provided to those claimants totals $3.301 billion.

The division has been unable to handle the huge influx of claimants. More than 300,000 North Carolinians are waiting for a response from the division.

On May 27, a new Division of Economic Security was appointed. Former member of the General Assembly Pryor Gibson was tapped for the job, which Gov. Roy Cooper said on Thursday, was to “significantly improve customer service.”

Cooper said at a media conference he told the division leaders “to find a way to answer every single call.”

The previously director Lockhart Taylor was reassigned within the Department of Commerce.

The U.S. Employment Situation – May 2020

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 2.5 million nationwide in May and the unemployment rate declined to 13.3 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported June 5, 2020.

These improvements in the labor market reflected a limited resumption of economic activity that had been curtailed in March and April due to the coronavirus pandemic and efforts to contain it. In May, employment rose sharply in leisure and hospitality, construction, education and health services and retail trade. By contrast, employment in government continued to decline sharply.

The unemployment rate declined by 1.4 percentage points to 13.3 percent in May, and the number of unemployed persons fell by 2.1 million to 21.0 million.

The number of unemployed persons who were on temporary layoff decreased by 2.7 million in May to 15.3 million, following a sharp increase of 16.2 million in April. Among those not on temporary layoff, the number of permanent job losers continued to rise, increasing by 295,000 in May to 2.3 million.

The labor force participation rate increased by 0.6 percentage point in May to 60.8 percent, following a decrease of 2.5 percentage points in April. Total employment, as measured by the household survey, rose by 3.8 million in May to 137.2 million, following a large decline in April. After an 8.7 percentage point decline in April, the employment-population ratio rose by 1.5 percentage points to 52.8 percent in May.

READ ABOUT MORE NEWS HERE.

RECENT HEADLINES:

Moratorium on utility cut offs extended, evictions moratorium set

No serious injuries reported in Avon deck collapse