The state's unemployment rate hit a record high 11.1 percent in January - unwelcome news for the state's half-million job seekers struggling to find work.
Economists say that despite the increase in the unemployment rate, there are signs of recovery. But out-of-work residents are having trouble seeing the silver lining.
"All I do is look and look and look," said Rose Clark, 68, of Middlesex.
Clark has been unemployed for almost a year after she had knee surgery and was unable to perform her job as a nurse's aide for WakeMed. Recently, she had to take money from her retirement account to pay her mortgage.
"I'm not optimistic at all," she said.
The January rate is the highest on record since officials started using the current method in 1976.
December's rate was originally reported as 11.2 percent but was revised to 10.9 percent during the annual review of state labor statistics last month.
It's normal for the unemployment rate to rise when a recession shows signs of ending, said N.C. State economist Mike Walden. That's because of the way unemployed workers are tracked. A worker is counted as unemployed only if he or she is applying for jobs regularly. When the economy shows signs of life, people who have quit looking will often try anew - and increase the number of people counted in the labor pool.
"The number of people unemployed rose by 8,000 or so," he said. "They were unemployed in December, too. They just didn't show up because they weren't actively looking for work."
A positive sign
Some industries such as construction are slow to recover, Walden said, but one encouraging sign was the 5,700 jobs added in professional and business services.
"Those are the high-paying, white-collar jobs that we lost a ton of during this recession," he said.
Still, North Carolina's unemployment rate remains higher than the nation's, which is 9.7 percent, and North Carolina was one of three states to set record highs in January. The others were Florida at 11.9 percent and Georgia at 10.4 percent.
Even for the newly unemployed, the situation can seem dire.
Karen Preston was laid off Wednesday from her job as an assistant purchasing agent - the second time she has been laid off in less than two years.
"The first thing I did is go to the pharmacy to see what prescriptions I could get while I still have health insurance," said Preston, 49, of Raleigh, noting that she can't afford to purchase health insurance through COBRA, which allows laid-off employees to continue to receive health benefits though they have to pay their own premiums.
Preston fears her current situation is worse than when she was laid off from her job as an administrative assistant in July 2008.
"When I was laid off the first time, I went on Craigslist and sold my living room and dining room and bedroom furniture ... to pay my bills," she said. "This time, there is nothing to sell."
Her oldest son, who's 24, was laid off from his job as a construction worker a little more than a year ago and is living with her.
"There are people like me who are hard-working, dependable, reliable, who want to not be getting unemployment and earning their way in the world," she said. "It's a different market out there now."
Joblessness still rising?
It will likely be at least a few more months before the unemployment rate peaks, predicted Mark Vitner, senior economist for Wells Fargo in Charlotte.
"More companies seem to be hiring today than they were in the past, but they're not hiring aggressively," he said. "The number of people who are looking for work is still rising faster than the number of people being hired."
So far, the state has borrowed almost $2 billion from the Federal Unemployment Account to pay benefits to the unprecedented number of people filing for unemployment.
The long-term effects of this recession will be far-reaching on that kind of state level but also on the household level, Vitner said.
"Half a million people are unemployed today, but it's not the same people who are unemployed month after month," he said. "The average duration [that people draw unemployment benefits] is 29 weeks. That means 850,000 people were unemployed at some time during the year. ... That's going to weigh on the economy as we recover."
Still, for some folks who have been out of work, the picture is getting a little brighter.
Stephen Ordog, 53, of Raleigh was laid off from his job as a software engineer in May 2008. He's been out of work since then, with the exception of a one-month contract job. Out of 350 applications, only 20 have resulted in interviews.
But he said he's busy earning technology certifications, teaching yoga at the Wake County Correctional Center and volunteering for Raleigh Little Theatre.
He said of the job market: "I see more activity. I see more things that are close to what I want."
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On Wednesday, the Senate passed a measure including an extension of jobless benefits as well as other tax breaks for businesses and states struggling with Medicaid expenses. Now the legislation moves to the House for approval. Story, Page 6A.
Navigating the world of unemployment pay can be confusing. Here's how it works.
Initial benefits last 26 weeks. After that, there is a series of tiers of extended benefits, approved by Congress. The first tier is an additional 20 weeks. The second adds 14 weeks. The third adds 13 more weeks. The fourth, six weeks. And the fifth tier is a final 20 weeks. In all, that adds up to 99 weeks. Not everyone qualifies for all 99 weeks.
According to current law, people drawing benefits under any of the five tiers will be cut off after April 5. People would receive payments for all of the weeks in the tier that they are on as of April 5, but they won't collect benefits under the next tier unless Congress passes legislation to keep the tiers through the end of the year.
In February, the N.C. Employment Security Commission did an annual review of its numbers for 2009 as required by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The process, called benchmarking, compares previous data, which are based on models, with actual employment figures from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages program, other Census information and birth and death estimates.
For 2009, nine of the 12 months were revised. As it turns out, the year began better than originally estimated, with an unemployment rate of 9.2 percent instead of the previously reported 9.7 percent. At the end of the year, December's numbers were revised to be lower than originally estimated, 10.9 percent instead of 11.2.
For the entire year, however, North Carolina's unemployment rate remained above the national average, in most months by 1 percentage point or more.
The ESC will release its state unemployment rate for February on March 26. County unemployment figures will be released March 19.
