Posted: Tuesday, December 16, 2014 3:00 pm
Thesnaponline.com
While it is not exactly numbers reflective of the unemployment rate around Christmas, people in Stanly County still have a lot to be thankful for this holiday season.
The county, as did 97 others in the state, saw its unemployment rate drop in October, according to numbers released by the North Carolina Department of Commerce’s Labor and Economic Analysis Division. The county’s rate dropped from 5.6 percent to 4.9. The 30,100 listed as employed in the county is the highest since July while the 1,481 listed as unemployed is the lowest since September 2007, when 1,396 were unemployed.
Also of note, the 4.9 percent rate matches the previous lowest rate, from May 2007. One month before that, the rate was 4.5 percent. The unemployment rate in the county has gone down seven times in the last 12 months while it remained the same once.
That ranks Stanly County 19th among the 100 counties in the state for unemployment. After reaching an all-time high of 14.0 percent in January 2010, the rate in the county has dropped nearly 65 percent.
So the question now becomes whether the members of the Division of Workforce Solutions in Albemarle will still have jobs if these trends continue.
“That’s a good question,” said Donnie Mann, director, with a chuckle.
“We love to see this trend continue. Hopefully, we’ll still have a job to come to.”
While the economy is still hit or miss, depending on where a person lives, their median income and employment, at least around here, progress is being shown in the number of people back to work along with those searching for work. That’s keeping Mann and his staff busy as big job opportunities open up in places such as the Alevo Group in Concord, which expected to spend more than $1 billion to bring the former cigarette plant there to full capacity to make its GridBank system.
But there are also businesses locally that are also hiring, such as Michelin in Norwood and Electronic Recyclers International, Inc. in Badin, which is looking to add jobs down the road.
“It’s been a steady pace. Michelin has taken applications and we’ve had a response to that. We’ve seen a little increase but it’s been pretty steady otherwise,” Mann said.
And with seasonal part-time and full-time employment opening up in November and December, there is a good chances these positive numbers will only get better when statewide numbers for November and December are released.
“We’ve seen surrounding counties with more jobs opening for the people in this county,” Mann said. “Seasonal hiring is also going on. We’ve also seen within the county job openings for a lot of different fields such as health care and manufacturing.
“We are happy to see that. It’s nice to see local people going back to work,” he added.
While seasonal hiring has its ups and downs and might reflect a potential increase in unemployment for January, the outlook remains positive that more people are looking for and finding jobs.
“With the seasonal hiring, that may affect January’s numbers when that ends and those numbers come out,” Mann said. “But we are glad to see the permanent examples in manufacturing and health care. Those jobs will be permanent and we hope to see that trend continue.”
Seasonal employment is already having a negative effect in other parts of the state. With the summer tourism season over, places such as Kill Devil Hills (5.0), Boone (5.0) and Morehead City (5.1) have higher unemployment rates than Albemarle, which now once again has the lowest unemployment rate in the state among micropolitan statistical areas. All three locations had lower unemployment rates than Albemarle during the summer months. Statewide, only Asheville (4.1), Durham-Chapel Hill (4.5) and Raleigh-Cary (4.5) have lower unemployment rates than Albemarle.
Unemployment also dropped in many nearby counties: Union (4.6), Cabarrus (4.9), Randolph (5.1), Rowan (5.6), Mecklenburg (5.6), Davidson (5.7), Montgomery (6.0), Anson (7.1) and Richmond (7.2).
To submit story ideas, contact Jason O. Boyd at (704) 982-2121 ext. 21 or email at jason@stanlynewspress.com.
We have sent a confirmation email to {* emailAddressData *}. Please check your email and click on the link to activate your account.
We’ve sent an email with instructions to create a new password. Your existing password has not been changed.
Posted in
News,
Local news
on
Tuesday, December 16, 2014 3:00 pm.
Most Read
- Deputies search for missing man
- Woman dies following two-car head-on collision on U.S. 52
- Evan Pecca, 59, of Albemarle, who loved needlepoint, old movies, crafts, yard work, died Dec. 6, 2014
- Elizabeth Smith, 96, of Norwood, who enjoyed gardening, quilting, died Dec. 14, 2014
- Lumber yard supervisor from Western N.C. wins $4 million
Leave a Reply