The latest North Carolina jobless numbers show a spike in county unemployment rates from Alamance to Yancey. But there has been some positive movement over the past year.
May jobless numbers released by the show 92 counties with a higher unemployment rate than the month before. But from this time last year, all 100 counties saw their unemployment rates drop.
is an economist with the PNC Financial Group. He says there are positive signs the labor market is improving, especially in the Triangle.
"Here in the Triangle, employment is up five percent from early 2008, and the US just broke even," said Teshome. "So, we鈥檙e not even in recovery mode we鈥檙e in expansion mode now."
But is the entire state in "recovery mode?" Budget and Tax Center says job growth is still too slow, and that May鈥檚 local jobs report makes it clear the current economic recovery is concentrated in just a handful of metropolitan areas.
The metro area with the lowest unemployment rate is Asheville, at 5.1 percent, followed by Durham-Chapel Hill at 5.3 percent and Raleigh-Cary at 5.4 percent.
Despite the falling jobless rates over the year, a report by shows during the same period, the state still has fewer payroll jobs than it had when the recession began December 2007.
