County’s Dec. 2010 unemployment rate improves despite job losses | Eastern North Carolina Now

    According to figures released this morning by the North Carolina Employment Security Commission, Beaufort County's unemployment rate improved just slightly in the final month of 2010.

    In December 2010, according to the NCESC, the percentage of Beaufort County residents, over the age of 15, who reported being unsuccessful in procuring employment for pay was 10.4 percent; a 0.3-percent decrease from the November 2010 jobless rate of 10.7 percent.

    In 2010, the best month for the Beaufort County jobs market was October, which boasted an unemployment rate of 9.8 percent. Last year, the worst month for the Beaufort County jobs market was January, with an unemployment rate of 12.3 percent, the highest figure since February 1996.

    From December 2009 to December 2010, Beaufort County experienced a year-over-year decrease in its unemployment rate of 0.9 percent, as the Dec. 2009 jobless rate was 11.3 percent.

    Beaufort County's annual average unemployment rate in 2009 and 2010, however, was exactly the same: 10.9 percent.

    Unfortunately, there is evidence that Beaufort County's December 2010 unemployment-rate decrease is misleading. Even though the unemployment rate was nearly two points lower in December 2010 than in January 2010, there were nearly 700 fewer people employed at the end of the year: 18,730 employed in January 2010, as opposed to 18,076 in December 2010.

    Even though the unemployment rate improved over the course of last year, there are still just as many, if not more, Beaufort County residents without jobs. In many cases, unemployed persons are no longer filing because they have already received their maximum allowed benefits, which has resulted in artificial improvements in the jobless rate, explained Patrick Oswalt, manager of the ESC office in Washington, in a telephone interview today.

    Oswalt said that people time out of the unemployment program after different lengths of time.

    "It's going to vary by person. It's a very complicated formula," said Oswalt. "I can tell you right now that 99 weeks is a maximum, but not everyone will receive the 99 weeks."

    Furthermore, the unemployment rate does not include those who are unemployed, but not looking for employment; those who have retired before the official retirement age but would still like to work (involuntary early retirees); those on disability pensions who, while not possessing full health, still wish to work in occupations suitable for their medical conditions; involuntary stay-at-home mothers who would prefer to work; and those who work for as little as one hour per week, but would like to work full-time.

    Oswalt said that he doesn't expect much improvement or decline in the Beaufort County unemployment rate in 2011.

    "I think we're going to stay constant," he said. "We're going to bounce up and down, by small percent points. I just don't see anything on the horizon that's going to change it drastically."

    Beaufort County's December 2010 rate decrease was typical among North Carolina counties, according to an NCESC news release, published today. Unemployment rates decreased in 66 of North Carolina's 100 counties in December. The rate increased in 27 counties and remained the same in seven, reads the release.

    In December 2010, North Carolina's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 9.7 percent; and the United States' seasonally adjusted rate was 9.4 percent, according to the ESC.