The latest numbers show there are about 418,000 unemployed people across North Carolina this Labor Day. And many of them have been jobless for a long time.
North Carolina’s unemployment rate is 8.9%, one of the highest in the country and higher than the national rate. The state has held this designation for much of the so-called economic recovery.
Mekael Teshome is an Economist with PNC Financial. He says we have to remember, between 2007 and 2010, unemployment rose by 100% nationally but by nearly 150% in North Carolina.
“Given the steeper rise in unemployment and looking at the national trends I think we, we might have a bit more of a problem in the state than nationally," said Teshome.
Numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show an unemployed person in North Carolina was out of work an average of 41 weeks in 2011, the latest numbers available. The highest number of average weeks was 48.6 in Florida. Jobless workers in the District of Columbia, Michigan, Georgia and New Jersey also averaged weeks in the 40s.
PNC's latest Raleigh Market Outlook shows the Raleigh-Durham area continues to outpace the state and the nation in economic recovery.