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State officials speculated last month that the January surge in local unemployment rates might be caused by the loss of holiday-related jobs.

They hoped to see rates stabilize for February, but it didn’t happen. At least, not in the Triad .

Jobless rates for February ticked up again in both the Greensboro-High Point and the Winston-Salem metro areas, hitting levels not seen since current record keeping began in the mid-1970s.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Gordon Allen , manager of the Employment Security Commission office in Rockingham County, where the unemployment rate jumped from 14.6 percent to 15.2 percent. “I don’t think any of us have. (The numbers) look pretty dismal.”

For the Greensboro-High Point metro area, the February unemployment rate rose from 12.3 percent to 12.4 percent, the ESC said Wednesday.

In the Winston-Salem area, the rate jumped from 11 percent to 11.1 percent.

The Triad’s metro areas were the only ones in the state to experience a decline in jobs in February. Collectively, employment fell by 1,300 positions in the two metro areas.

Across the state, 58 counties saw unemployment rates increase, while 19 experienced declines. In 23, rates remained unchanged. The latter group included Guilford County, which had a rate of 11.8 percent .

“2010 is off to a slow start in North Carolina,” said John Quinterno, a principal at South by North Strategies Ltd., a research firm specializing in economic and social policy in Chapel Hill. “We are not seeing the (job) declines like we have seen in the past, but we are not showing much improvement either. ”

That’s bad news for people like Ted Ingram, a 33-year-old former Marine and military contractor who hasn’t been able to find full-time work since July.

The Archdale resident showed up at a job fair sponsored by the News & Record on Wednesday at the Greensboro Coliseum Special Events Center. There, Ingram and several hundred other job seekers learned that only a relatively small number of companies had come looking for workers.

Ingram, who has resorted to a temporary part-time position with the U.S. Census Bureau, says he’s had a hard time keeping frustration at bay. “I wish there was a law that said when you don’t get a 'look-see,’ they have to tell you why you didn’t get hired,” he said. “It’s gotten so bad that when I get a letter telling me I didn’t get hired, I actually get excited because I know they at least looked at my resume.”

On Wednesday, ESC officials could offer little encouragement to Ingram and others looking for work.

“It is too early in 2010 to say we are headed for something better,” said Larry Parker, a spokesman with the ESC in Raleigh. “At this point, we want to see some job growth.”

Residents of Rockingham County can appreciate that.

The area experienced significant layoffs last year — 600 jobs at Hanesbrands in Eden, 176 at Unifi in Madison and 140 at Karastan in Eden.

Now, the layoffs are occurring on a smaller — but broader — scale.

“It’s just more and more small businesses,” Allen said. “That’s where we are seeing it now — mom and pop places. Day cares start to close. People can’t afford to put their kids in day care if they are not working.”

When the recession began in December 2007, Rockingham had an unemployment rate of 6 percent. That represented 2,627 people looking for work. By February, those numbers had more than doubled.

“The past two years have just been incredible,” Allen said. “It is so discouraging.” 

Contact Donald W. Patterson at 373-7027 or don.patterson@news-record.com

Contact Richard M. Barron at 373-7371 or richard.barron@news-record.com