APRIL 9, 2009 ISSUE
Watauga Unemployment Rate Highest in 20 Years
The unemployment rate in Watauga County has reached its highest rate in 20 years, according to data from the North Carolina Employment Security Commission (ESC). The High Country Workforce Development Board reported February 2009 unemployment rates for seven area counties on April 1.
In February, the Watauga County unemployment rate reached 8.6 percent, the highest rate since 1990, the earliest year for which unemployment data is available in the ESC’s Labor Area Unemployment Statistics database. The lowest Watauga County unemployment rate in the same time period was 0.9 percent, recorded in September 1999.
According to the ESC, 2,012 persons are unemployed in Watauga County. The 8.6 percent unemployment rate is up from 5.1 percent three months earlier, 4.2 percent six months earlier and 4.2 percent a year earlier. In the last 30 days, $659,940 in unemployment insurance has been paid in Watauga County, compared to $2.1 million in the year to date.
In Avery County, the unemployment rate hit 10.7 percent in February, up from 6.8 percent three months earlier, 5.7 percent six months earlier and 6.1 percent a year earlier. The number of unemployed persons in Avery County is 1,000, according to the ESC. Since 1990, the highest unemployment rate was recorded in March 1992, at 12.5 percent. The lowest rate, 2.1 percent, occurred in September 1998. Unemployment insurance paid in Avery in the past 30 days amounts to $322,960; in the past year, $1.1 million has been paid out.
Unemployment rates throughout the rest of the High Country region are significantly higher. Alleghany County saw the highest unemployment rate in February, at 15.3 percent. Ashe County was at 14.8 percent; Mitchell County, 15 percent; Wilkes County, 13.2 percent; and Yancey County, 14.5 percent. The seven-county average in February was 12.4 percent.
Statewide, the unemployment rate was 11.3 percent, compared to 8.9 percent nationally.
The unemployment rate increased in 99 of North Carolina’s 100 counties compared to January. Forty-two counties have an unemployment rate at or lower than the state unemployment rate of 11.3 percent.
Watauga County continues to have the sixth-lowest unemployment rate in the state behind Orange (6.5 percent), Durham (8 percent), Wake (8.3 percent), Chatham (8.5 percent) and Gates (8.5 percent) counties.
According to the ESC, the Hickory/Lenoir/Morganton metropolitan area experienced the highest unemployment rate in the state, at an average 15.7 percent.
For more information about unemployment statistics, click to the ESC website at www.ncesc.com. For regional workforce information, click to the High Country Workforce Development Board website at www.highcountrywdb.com.
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