North Carolina’s unemployment rate shot back up to 7.3% in September after a decline from 8.5% in July to 6.5% in August. | Stock photo
North Carolina’s unemployment rate shot back up to 7.3% in September after a decline from 8.5% in July to 6.5% in August. | Stock photo
The John William Pope Foundation president is criticizing the decline of North Carolina's job market, which is largely impacted by COVID-19.
In an October Facebook post, John Hood, president of the conservative-leaning foundation, provided some stats about the job market based on the September labor report. His post was shared by Rep. Jay Adams (R-Hickory), who provided no comment about the report.
Hood posted to his Facebook page about the latest jobs report, writing that the state has lost approximately 300,000 jobs since the beginning of the economic crisis created by restrictions related to COVID-19.
"That's a decline of 7.5% — the worst drop in employment across the 12 states that make up the Southeast," Hood wrote in the shared post.
Hood also called out North Carolina's September unemployment rate – 7.3% – which is an increase over August's 6.5%, the state Department of Commerce posted based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unemployment rate was also 3.6% above September 2019.
Hood pointed out that the North Carolina unemployment rate is higher than any neighboring states and that the 54.4% employment-to-population ratio is worse than its neighbors.
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