RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina’s unemployment rate fell below 6% during January.
The state Commerce Department unveiled the rate and other data on Monday. January’s rate of 5.9% compares to 6.1% for December. Jobless figures remain well above those recorded before the COVID-19 pandemic contracted commerce and closed businesses last spring.
The state rate peaked during the pandemic at 13.5% last April and May. That’s higher than the previously announced top rate during the pandemic of 12.9% from last April. That’s because monthly rates in 2020 have undergone their usual annual revisions.
Employed workers in the state labor force increased by close to 10,000 in January.
Copyright 2021, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
