North Carolina is suffering from its highest jobless rate in 17 years, according to county figures for December released Friday by the Employment Security Commission of North Carolina.
Although unemployment fell from November to December in 60 of the state's 100 counties, December's numbers are still significantly higher than they were a year ago. Durham County, for example, had an unemployment rate of 4.3 percent in December 2001, compared with 2 percent during the same month a year earlier.
In November 2001, the unemployment figure was slightly higher at 4.5 percent; a year before, the rate was 2.3 percent.
All county rates released Friday were not seasonally adjusted.
The state's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate tallied to 6.3 percent, compared to the national average of 5.8 percent.
"Manufacturing is so big in this state," said Michele Walker of the ESC's public information office. "The primary thing we're noticing is that manufacturing industries have been declining since before last summer, and that has been a reason for the increase in unemployment. Particularly textile and furniture industries are going through changes, going overseas and to other countries."
Of the 99,060 workers who filed initial unemployment claims in December, 41,352 came from the manufacturing sector, which includes textile mills, special trade construction, heavy construction and furniture industries.
Officials said air transportation was also hurt, primarily by the terrorist attacks, and complementary industries, such as food services and hotels, also suffered.
John Williamson, a Durham resident who worked in the food service industry for two years, has been out of work for more than four months. "There's just not that many jobs around this close anymore," he said. "I don't have transportation, so I have to take the bus," added the 40-year-old father of four.
North Carolina paid over $108 million in unemployment benefits last month, with $9.4 million going to Wake County alone. Wake did not have the greatest number of jobless people, however, although it did see many high-wage earners lose jobs.
"The number of high-salary people that are unemployed--I don't remember anything like this," said Tim Havey, assistant manager of Durham's ESC local office.
The state's unemployment rate in December ranked sixth-worst in the nation, and North Carolina led the nation in growth of unemployment claims based on tax claims filed during the holiday season, according to Martha Bowman, ESC's acting director of labor market information. Bowman explained that initial unemployment claims are often the result of temporary layoffs, which are most common in December and July.
In an effort to lower the unemployment rate, ESC offices now allow job seekers to file initial claims online and follow up weekly over the phone, and the office has also increased their working hours. "We've done a lot of thing to try to help the situation," Walker said.
She added that the national average number of weeks someone is out of work before finding a job is 13.5, but North Carolina's is only 9.9, the third-best in the nation.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.