Unemployment Falls Locally In September – Brunswick, New Hanover and Pender County

In September, unemployment rates fell in Brunswick, New Hanover and Pender, as they did in all but two counties in North Carolina, according to the N.C. Division of Labor and Economic Analysis.

The September county-by-county data, released Wednesday, show that unemployment in Brunswick County was at 6.6 percent, down from 7.3 percent in August and from 7.5 percent in September 2013.

New Hanover registered… 5.6 percent unemployment in September, dropping from 6.5 percent in August and 7.1 percent in September 2013.

Pender County’s September unemployment was at 6.5 percent, down one percentage point from August’s 7.5 percent rate, and down significantly from September 2013’s rate of 8.3 percent.

Other highlights of the monthly report include:

Currituck and Chatham counties were tied for the state’s lowest unemployment, at 4.2 percent. Highest unemployment is found in mountainous Graham County, which has a rate of 12.2 percent. Scotland County is next highest, with 11.3 percent.

Of North Carolina’s 14 Metropolitan Statistical Areas, the Wilmington area, with a September area unemployment rate of 6.0 percent, had the sixth-lowest level, behind Asheville (4.6 percent), Durham-Chapel Hill (4.9 percent), Raleigh-Cary (5.0 percent), Winston-Salem (5.6 percent) and Burlington (5.9 percent).

Currently, North Carolina still considers the Wilmington MSA as including Brunswick County, although the federal government has reassigned Brunswick County to the Myrtle Beach MSA.

The North Carolina MSA with the highest unemployment was Rocky Mount, at 8.8 percent in September.

Year over year, the Wilmington area showed increased employment in every sector except for manufacturing, in which employment decreased 4.1 percent. The sector showing strongest growth was leisure and hospitality, at 7.5 percent growth. Logging and construction was second, with 3.7 percent growth.