Local jobless
rate edged upward in February Most High Country counties remained
in double digits
From Staff Reports
Watauga County alone recorded single-digit unemployment
in February, a report by the High Country Workforce Development
Board revealed Wednesday.
The report shows that Watauga’s jobless rate, at 8.6 percent,
almost mirrors the national rate of 8.9 percent while other High
Country counties continued to trend upward (see table).
Watauga’s rate edged upward from 8.1 percent in January.
Overall, the High Country region saw a .8 percent increase from
January.
In February, the unemployment rate increased in 99 of North Carolina’s
100 counties compared to January, when an increase touched every
county in the state.
There are 42 N.C. counties with an unemployment rate at or lower
than the state unemployment rate of 11.3 percent.
Graham (17.9 percent) and Dare (17.1 percent) counties have the
highest unemployment rates in North Carolina with High Country
neighboring counties, Caldwell (16.5 percent) and Burke (16.0
percent) counties showing the sixth and eighth highest unemployment
rates in the state.
Only one county in North Carolina, Caswell County, experienced
a drop in its unemployment rate – down to 13 percent from
13.2 percent in January.
Watauga County continues to have the sixth-lowest unemployment
rate (8.6 percent) in the state behind Orange (6.5 percent), Durham
(8.0 percent), Wake (8.3 percent), Chatham (8.5 percent), and
Gates (8.5 percent) counties.
However, six counties in the seven-county High Country Workforce
Development Board region, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Mitchell, Wilkes
and Yancey, exceeded the 10 percent unemployment rate in January
and went even higher in February – with Alleghany County’s
unemployment rate at more than 15 percent. The region’s February
unemployment rate is higher than the state rate of 11.3 percent
For more detailed information about unemployment statistics, visit
the N.C. Employment Security Commission Web site at www.ncesc.com.
For regional workforce information, visit the High Country Workforce
Development Board Web site at www.highcountrywdb.com.
Get Firefox