Hyde County records highest rate in state

Published 7:15 pm Friday, April 15, 2016

Beaufort County’s unemployment rate increased by 0.1 percent from January to February, according to data compiled by the Labor & Economics Analysis Division of the N.C. Department of Commerce.

The county’s jobless rate was at 6.5 percent in January, rising to 6.6 percent in February. The state’ unemployment rate was at 5.7 percent in January and February, according to LEAD data. In February, unemployment rates decreased in 32 of the state’s 100 counties, increased in 30 counties and were unchanged in 38 counties when compared to January rates.

In Beaufort County, 20,105 people were in the workforce during February, with 18,783 of those people on the job. That left 1,322 people unable to secure employment, according to LEAD figures. In January, Beaufort County’s workforce totaled 19,817 people, with 18,522 earning wages. That left 1,295 members of that workforce unable to secure employment, according to LEAD data.

In February, 10 of the state’s 100 counties had unemployment rates of 5 percent or lower, 84 counties had jobless rates between 5 percent and 10 percent and six counties had jobless rates of 10 percent or higher. Hyde County had the highest unemployment rate in February at 15.3 percent, with Buncombe County having the lowest jobless rate in February at 4.4 percent, according to LEAD figures. Hyde County typically has high unemployment rates in the winter when the county’s commercial fishing industry is less active than in warmer months.

Beaufort County’s unemployment rate (factoring in the number of reported jobless people) for February ranked 65th in the state. In the previous month, it was ranked 63rd in the state, according to LEAD figures.

Hyde County’s unemployment rate fell from 15.5 percent in January, when it had the highest unemployment rate in the state. It retained that distinction in February, according to LEAD information. The county’s unemployment rate in February 2015 was at 14.1 percent.

Martin County’s jobless rate fell from 8 percent in January to 7.8 percent in February, according to LEAD date. In February 2015, the county’s unemployment rate was at 7.1 percent.

Pitt County’s unemployment rate for February was at 5.9 percent, unchanged from January, according to LEAD figures. The county’s jobless rate in February 2015 was at 5.6 percent.

Washington County’s jobless rate in February was at 9.5 percent, down from 9.7 percent in January, according to LEAD information. The county’s unemployment rate in February 2015 was at 9.4 percent.

The Washington statistical area’s jobless rate in February was 6.6 percent, up from 6.5 percent in the previous month. The Greenville-Washington combined statistical area’s jobless rate increased from 6 percent in February, unchanged from January’s rate.

Of the 15 metropolitan statistical areas, the six MSAs east of Interstate 95 and the Fayetteville MSA had the highest unemployment rates in February, all above or at the state average of 5.7 percent, according to LEAD figures.

The jobless figures released by the Commerce Department do not include unemployed people whose unemployment insurance benefits expired and who are not listed as unemployed. Factor in those people and a county’s true jobless rate is higher.

 

 

About Mike Voss

Mike Voss is the contributing editor at the Washington Daily News. He has a daughter and four grandchildren. Except for nearly six years he worked at the Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, Va., in the early to mid-1990s, he has been at the Daily News since April 1986.
Journalism awards:
• Pulitzer Prize for Meritorious Public Service, 1990.
• Society of Professional Journalists: Sigma Delta Chi Award, Bronze Medallion.
• Associated Press Managing Editors’ Public Service Award.
• Investigative Reporters & Editors’ Award.
• North Carolina Press Association, First Place, Public Service Award, 1989.
• North Carolina Press Association, Second Place, Investigative Reporting, 1990.
All those were for the articles he and Betty Gray wrote about the city’s contaminated water system in 1989-1990.
• North Carolina Press Association, First Place, Investigative Reporting, 1991.
• North Carolina Press Association, Third Place, General News Reporting, 2005.
• North Carolina Press Association, Second Place, Lighter Columns, 2006.
Recently learned he will receive another award.
• North Carolina Press Association, First Place, Lighter Columns, 2010.
4. Lectured at or served on seminar panels at journalism schools at UNC-Chapel Hill, University of Maryland, Columbia University, Mary Washington University and Francis Marion University.

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