DURHAM – Durham County’s unemployment rate fell in September to 8.1 percent, down by a slight margin compared with August.
But the rate is still greater – by eight-tenths of a percentage point – than what it was in the month a year earlier.
The rate for the Durham-Chapel Hill Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Durham as well as Chatham, Orange and Person counties, was down less than a percentage point to 7.7 percent for September compared to August, but it was up seven-tenths of a point from what it was a year earlier.
The data was part of a release of new employment estimates on Friday by the Employment Security Commission of North Carolina.
According to the release, 92 of the state’s 100 counties saw their unemployment rates drop compared to the previous month. Rates fell on a month-to-month basis in all of the state’s metropolitan statistical areas.
But compared to last year, unemployment rose in 87 of the state’s counties in September, and in 13 of its metro areas, according to a release from John Quinterno, a principal with South by North Strategies, a Chapel Hill-based research firm.
“North Carolina’s local labor markets recorded few improvements over the past year,” Quinterno said in a news release. “Statewide job growth ground to a halt, and as a result, unemployment actually increased across much of the state. Unfortunately, little evidence suggests that the trends will change anytime soon absent policy intervention.”
Orange County saw its unemployment rate fall by eight-tenths of a percentage point to 6.7 percent for September compared to the previous month, but it was up by that much compared to last year.
Chatham’s rate, at 7.4 percent, was down three-tenths of a percentage point from August, but was up by a full percentage point compared to the month last year.
Granville County’s rate of 10.1 percent was an improvement of four-tenths of a point from August, but the rate was up by seven-tenths of a point from the month last year.
Person County’s rate of 9.6 percent was down by six-tenths of a point from August, and was up by one-tenth of a point from the period last year.
