Stanly’s unemployment stays steady
Published 11:25 am Wednesday, January 6, 2021
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Stanly County’s unemployment rate remained essentially the same at 5 percent for November, according to new county-specific data from the state’s Department of Commerce, which was released Tuesday.
Stanly had 1,570 people unemployed in November, which translates to a 5.1 percent unemployment rate; the rate in October was 5.0 percent with 1,558 people without jobs.
There were 30,721 people with jobs in November, slightly higher than the 30,655 people employed the month prior.
The rate has gradually decreased since Stanly reached its peak of 10.2 percent in May. The county’s rate is about 1.7 percentage points worse when compared to November 2019, when the rate was 3.4 percent.
The unemployment rates increased in three quarters of the counties after decreasing in all all 100 North Carolina’s counties in October. The overwhelming majority of counties (86) have rates between 5 and 10 percent, while only 13 counties have rates below or at 5 percent. Only one county, Scotland, has a rate higher than 10 percent.
Stanly’s unemployment rate continues to match up favorably against the rest of the state, ranking 16th out of the 100 counties, up from 18th the prior month, and is lower than every nearby county in the Charlotte metropolitan region, except Union, which was at 5.0 percent.
In the state’s list of unemployment rates for micropolitan areas across North Carolina — these are geographic areas focused on an urban cluster with a population of at least 10,000 but less than 50,000 — Albemarle also came in at 5.1 percent.
The state’s seasonally adjusted November unemployment rate was 6.2 percent, remaining unchanged from October’s revised rate. The number of workers employed statewide (not seasonally adjusted) increased in November by 8,578 to 4,665,264, while those unemployed increased by 4,704 to 301,765
The federal employment rate dropped to 6.7 percent from 6.9 percent. The economy added 245,000 jobs in November, the slowest month of growth since spring, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. By comparison, in October, the economy added 638,000 jobs.
More than 24,000 North Carolinians filed COVID-19 related initial claims in November, a significant decrease from the roughly 48,000 who filed in October. More than 3.1 million claims have been filed in the state since March 15, 2020.
The number of people in Stanly who filed initial claims decreased for the month. The county had 113 people file COVID-19 related initial unemployment insurance claims (out of 242 total initial claims) in November compared to the 225 who filed COVID-19 claims in October. There are 259 continued COVID-19 related claims for the month.
Of the total numbers of initial claims that were filed, men filed 124 claims while women filed 118. Of those filing for unemployment, 155 were white and 88 were Black.
The people who filed the claims in Stanly were predominantly younger, with those ages 25 to 34, 35 to 44 and 45 to 54 accounting for the majority of all claims.
The industries most impacted by the pandemic were trade, transportation and utilities with 45 claims, unclassified/unknown with 35 claims and manufacturing with 34 claims.
About Chris Miller
Chris Miller has been with the SNAP since January 2019. He is a graduate of NC State and received his Master's in Journalism from the University of Maryland. He previously wrote for the Capital News Service in Annapolis, where many of his stories on immigration and culture were published in national papers via the AP wire.
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