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One month’s numbers don’t make a trend, even if they’ve collectively turned in the right direction.

In March, the Employment Security Commission of North Carolina reported Friday, every county in the state recorded a decline in its unemployment rate.

So did each of the state’s 14 metro areas.

What’s more, rates in some areas dropped two percentage points or more.

In Rockingham County, which has the highest unemployment rate in the Piedmont Triad, the numbers fell from 15.1 percent to 14.1 percent.

“That’s a good sign and very encouraging,” said Gordon Allen, head of the ESC office in Reidsville . “Hopefully, we will see something that is very sustained and will continue in that trend.”

That’s the key, economic analysts said Friday.

Typically, they point out, unemployment rates tend to fall in March as the weather improves and outside job opportunities begin to return.

“It’s just one month’s data,” said Larry Parker, a spokesman for the ESC in Raleigh. “We prefer to look at the rates over several months so we can see it as a trend. That gives us a better idea of what is going on.”

Others point out that unemployment numbers across the state, including the Triad, remain painfully high even in light of the March data.

“The numbers mask other signs that the North Carolina economy — and working families — are still struggling,” said Alexandra Sirota , a policy analyst with the N.C. Justice

Center in Raleigh. “When you look deeper, 61 counties still had unemployment rates higher than the state average.”

Furthermore, 75 counties posted double-digit jobless rates, and all the metro areas in the region had rates of 10 percent or higher.

“Weak labor markets remained the norm in March,” said John Quinterno, a principal at South by North Strategies , a Chapel Hill research firm specializing in economic and social policy. “We have a high level of unemployment and a low level of job creation. We are still treading water. Conditions didn’t deteriorate markedly, but they didn’t improve markedly either.”

Since the recession began in December 2007, North Carolina has shed 6.7 percent of its employment base, or more than 280,000 jobs. At the same time, the state’s unemployment rate has jumped from 4.7 percent to 10.9 percent.

In March, the unemployment rate for the Greensboro-High Point metro area fell from 12.4 percent to 11.5 percent and the rate in Guilford County dropped from 11.8 percent to 11 percent.

On a positive note, the ESC said, the number of people employed in Guilford County grew by nearly 3,500 in March. That’s the largest increase since January 2008 .

Still, nearly 26,865 people in the county were unemployed last month. That’s down from 28,639 in February .

However, ESC officials could not pinpoint the last time unemployment rates fell in all 100 counties and all 14 metro areas in the same month.

“That’s pretty significant,” Allen, the ESC official in Reidsville, said of the declines. “I know we’ve got a long way to go, but maybe this is the beginning of it. We need some good sign.”

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