North Carolina Unemployment Spikes To 12.2%, New Statistics Show

NORTH CAROLINA — Preliminary data indicate that 12.2 percent of North Carolinians are unemployed, with about 571,700 residents losing work from March to April.

North Carolina's employment rate increased 7.9 percentage points since March and 8.1 percentage points since last April, which saw 4.1 percent unemployment.

Nationwide 14.7 percent of Americans are unemployed, according to a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report released Friday. The states with the highest unemployment rates were Nevada (28.2 percent), Michigan (22.7 percent) and Hawaii (22.3 percent). The states with the lowest unemployment rates were Nebraska (8.3 percent), North Dakota (8.5 percent) and Utah (9.7 percent).

According to data released in April for North Carolina, the counties with the lowest unemployment rates in the state last month were:

• Buncombe (3.4 percent)
• Alexander (3.4 percent)
• Orange (3.4 percent)
• Wake (3.6 percent)
• Durham (3.6 percent)

The North Carolina counties reporting the highest unemployment rates in April were:

• Hyde (13.1 percent)
• Tyrrell (7.5 percent)
• Scotland (7.4 percent)
• Dare (7.4 percent)
• Washington (7.2)

As of May 22, more than 21,000 North Carolinians had contracted the coronavirus. More than 500 were hospitalized and 728 deaths were linked to COVID-19.

Courtney Teague, Patch Staff, contributed

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