news-record.com

RALEIGH - For the third consecutive month, all 14 metropolitan statistical areas in North Carolina experienced an unemployment rate increase in July, according to statistics released Friday by the state's Employment Security Commission.

Unemployment rates for July were:

Burlington: 7.2 percent, up from 6.6 percent

Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord NC/SC: 6.8 percent, up from 6.3 percent

Greensboro-High Point: 7.2 percent, up from 6.4 percent

Raleigh-Cary: 5.4 percent, up from 5.0 percent

Winston-Salem: 6.6 percent, up from 5.9 percent

In July, unemployment rates increased in 97 North Carolina counties, including Guilford and Forsyth, according to ESC statistics. Two counties experienced a rate decrease, while the rate remained the same in one county.

Currituck County had the state's lowest unemployment rate, at 3.8 percent, in July. Scotland County had the highest rate, at 11.7 percent.

Forty-five counties were at or below the state's unadjusted unemployment rate of 6.8 percent, which increased from 6.2 percent in June.

The five counties receiving the highest amount in unemployment insurance benefits in July were: Mecklenburg,

$10.4 million; Wake, $7.1 million; Guilford, $5.2 million; Forsyth, $3.2 million; and Gaston, $2.7 million.

In July, $105.9 million in benefits was paid to 111,383 people statewide, compared with $89.9 million to 99,939 people in June.