Wilson County was one of only three North Carolina counties to see an increase in its unemployment rate from March to April, according to state figures released Wednesday.While Wilson County’s rate is down from 10 percent at the same time previous year, it has risen a half-point from 8.2 percent in March to 8.7 percent – the fifth-highest among the state’s 100 counties.According to the North Carolina Department of Commerce, Wilson is grouped in the five-county Turning Point Region along with Northampton, Halifax, Nash and Edgecombe counties. It’s 1% below the same month in 2015.
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Only one metro area, Hampton Roads, had an employment rate above 4 percent. The jobless rate was 5.9 percent in April 2015. National NSA employment in construction was 262,000 higher than in April 2015. In March Chatham County’s rate was 4.4 percent.
The national unemployment rate for April was 5.0 percent, unchanged from March. This year’s fall of 2.7 percent was no exception. A number of these states have small construction workforces, which means that small changes in the number of construction workers employed can lead to large changes in their construction unemployment rate. Ann Lang of the Virginia Employment Commission says we have the 11th lowest rate in the nation.
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Scotland County had the highest unemployment rate at 9.5 percent, while Buncombe County had the lowest at 3.7 percent. But continued unemployment rate increases over several months would be troubling, she said. Colorado’s jobless rate moved up from the first time in more than five years to 3.1 percent in April from 2.9 percent in March. Colorado slipped to third with 3.4 percent, tied with Idaho, and Virginia had a 3.8 percent unemployment rate.
