Area job losses continue to mount
On the employment front, the bad news keeps getting worse.
Data released Friday by the Employment Security Commission of North Carolina show that the job picture for most cities and counties in the area has worsened over the past 12 months.
Some saw their August unemployment rates equal or surpass those of August 2010.
Some saw higher numbers of unemployed last month than they did a year earlier.
And some saw both.
In Greensboro, for example, the unemployment rate jumped, year over year, by 0.5 percentage point, to 10.8 percent. And the number of people without jobs increased during the same period, from 13,274 to 13, 915.
That double whammy also played out in Winston-Salem; in the counties of Stokes, Rockingham, Randolph, Forsyth and Guilford; and in the region’s three metro areas.
“I’ve noticed that pattern in a number of places,” said John Quinterno, a principal at South by North Strategies, a research firm in Chapel Hill. “The story really hasn’t changed. We have a crisis.
“The labor market is in terrible condition.”
The Greensboro-High Point metro area offers a prime example.
Year over year, the three-county region saw its labor force fall by 0.7 percent, the number of people with jobs fall by 1 percent and the number of people unemployed rise by 1.97 percent.
During that time, the area’s unemployment rate jumped to 11 percent. That’s the metro’s highest rate this year.
Across the area, only one city, Winston-Salem, and one county, Stokes, had unemployment rates below 10 percent in August.
“Our economy is flat (or) down everywhere we look,” said Don Jud, professor emeritus at UNCG’s Bryan School of Business and Economics. “I don’t have any good news anywhere.”
Between August 2010 and August 2011, unemployment rates rose in 76 of the state’s 100 counties and 11 of the state’s 14 metro areas.
In August, jobless rates were at or above 10 percent in 70 counties. And 58 counties had rates last month greater than the current state unemployment figure of 10.4 percent.
From July to August, the unemployment rate increased or stayed the same in 68 counties.
“The increase in unemployment since July is certainly troubling,” Allan Freyer, a policy analyst with the N.C. Budget and Tax Center in Raleigh, wrote in his monthly jobs report.
“But the long-term trend in the unemployment rate is even more cause for concern.”
Since the recession began in December 2007, the state has lost 289,300 jobs, or 6.9 percent of its employment base.
Although the Greensboro-High Point metro area added 2,800 jobs in August, it has lost 900 positions in the past 12 months.
“Conditions, in many ways, have deteriorated over the year,” Quinterno said.
“(And) there is very little evidence that we are going to see any meaningful changes for the rest of the year.”
Contact Donald W. Patterson at 373-7027 or don.patterson@news-record.com
Accompanying Photos
Photo Caption: The Army (left) and furniture retailer Furnitureland South were among the 36 companies at the Job Expo and Franchise Fair sponsored by the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce.
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