Alamance County received mixed news Friday about unemployment in January, though the county’s job market remained at a robust level.
The county’s jobless rate edged up from 3.2% in December to 3.7% in January, the state Department of Commerce reported. But the rate was below the 3.9% mark posted in January of last year.
Historically, unemployment rates rise in January because of seasonal employment ending from the Christmas season.
Alamance County’s jobless rates for January of this year and last year and for December were a mirror image of the rates posted for the state as a whole.
In January Alamance County had a workforce of 82,693 people with 3,022 listed as unemployed.
Statewide, unemployment rates increased in 99 of North Carolina’s counties from December to January and decreased in one, Alleghany County in the northwestern mountains, the state Commerce Department reports.
When compared to January last year, unemployment rates decreased in 71 counties, increased in 14 and remained unchanged in 15. Over a year period, 11 of the state’s metropolitan areas posted unemployment rate decreases while four remained unchanged.
The number of counties with jobless rates reflecting healthy job markets remained high.
There were 88 counties with unemployment rates at or below 5% in January while only one county, Hyde County in eastern North Carolina, posted a jobless level at or above 10%, considered an indicator of a sluggish employment market.
The number of workers employed statewide increased in January by 1,538 to 4.96 million while the number unemployed increased by 27,047 to 190,835. Since January 2022, the number of workers employed statewide has increased by 74,495, while the number unemployed has decreased by 6,789, according to the N.C. Commerce Department.