Jobless level recedes last month

HIGH POINT — The city’s unemployment rate made a welcome reversal last month.

The High Point jobless level dropped from 5.3% in August to 3.9% in September, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday. The September unemployment rate was the lowest so far this year, bettering the 4.2% rate in April.

Last month’s city jobless level was slightly higher than the 3.9% rate in September 2023 but was down significantly from the 8.3% rate in September 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic.

Local economist Mike McCully said the numbers were encouraging.

“The labor force grew in September,” said McCully, an associate professor of economics at High Point University. “But job creation was even faster, bringing down the joblessness rate.”

The Federal Reserve Board is expected to cut interest rates another quarter point in the near future as national indicators keep showing inflation nearing the Fed’s target of 2%, McCully told The High Point Enterprise.

“Lower interest rates support future spending by consumers and businesses and continued job creation,” he said.

Statewide, unemployment rates decreased in all 100 North Carolina counties from August to September, the N.C. Department of Commerce reported Wednesday. However, the numbers do not reflect the impact from Tropical Storm Helene, which devastated western North Carolina after striking the region Sept. 27-28. Employers were surveyed for the report in the first half of September.

When compared to September last year, unemployment rates decreased in 66 counties, increased in 14 and remained unchanged in 20. Seven metropolitan areas recorded rate decreases over the year, two had increases and for six the rate remained unchanged.

The number of counties with jobless rates at or below 5%, considered an indicator of a healthy local employment market, increased from 79 in August to 97 in September. No counties recorded unemployment rates in August and September at or above 10%, considered a sign of a struggling local job market.

The number of workers employed statewide increased in September by 69,046 to almost 5.1 million while the number unemployed decreased by 56,132 to 167,762. Since September 2023, the number of workers employed statewide has increased by 6,657 while the number unemployed has decreased by 2,266, the state Commerce Department reports.

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