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GREENSBORO — After a tantalizing but brief decline, unemployment was back on the rise again in Guilford County last month, adding to the misery this recession has fostered.

The May unemployment rate rose to 11.3 percent in Guilford, according to preliminary, unadjusted data released Friday by the state Employment Security Commission.

The number of initial filers in Guilford dropped, from nearly 5,500 in April to about 4,700 in May . But the amount of unemployment benefits increased, from $11.6 million to $12.6 million, during that same time.

“All of the state’s 100 counties continue to be challenged by this recession,” commission Chairman Moses Carey Jr. said in a prepared statement.

Guilford somewhat mirrored the state, which saw unemployment rise in 82 of 100 counties.

In this area, Rockingham had the highest rate at 14.3 percent, up from 13.3 percent in April.

Unemployment had fallen slightly in the previous two months for the majority of counties, including Guilford and Rockingham.

Unemployment typically would be going down this time of year, said Ben Barnwell, manager of the Employment Security Commission office in Greensboro. But the increase in May represents some 2,000 new people without a job in Guilford.

“That’s a significant number of people,” he said. “That’s just through the month of May. There’s some additional layoffs expected going forward.”

Since May 2008, the unemployment rate here has nearly doubled. A year ago, 14,218 people were unemployed. By comparison, there were 27,547 without jobs this May.

“That’s tremendous — 100 percent increase in unemployment in one year is a lot for one local labor market to cope with,” said Elaine Mejia , director of the N.C. Budget and Tax Center , which is part of a Raleigh-based research and advocacy group focused on poverty.

In the Greensboro-High Point metro area, the government sector lost the most jobs with 600 , while trade, transportation and utilities enjoyed a 500-job increase. Manufacturing continued to lose jobs, shedding another 300 in that time frame.

Metropolitan areas are determined by the federal government. The Greensboro-High Point area includes Guilford, Rockingham and Randolph counties.

Overall, the area has experienced a net job loss of 23,300 since May 2008 . By comparison, the Winston-Salem metro area lost 7,600 and the Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord metro area eliminated 52,000 jobs.

“It’s unclear at this point for how long North Carolina is going to continue to shed jobs,” Mejia said.

Recovering those jobs will take years, she said.

Contact Jennifer Fernandez at 373-7064 or jennifer. fernandez@news-record.com