WASHINGTON: The Pitt County unemployment rate dropped slightly in March, but local job growth continues to lag behind state and national levels, according to the latest data. The county’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in March was 5.3 percent, one-tenth of a percentage point under February’s rate and three-tenths of a point lower than the same month in 2016, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Bureau of Business Research at East Carolina University.
Pitt County’s March unemployment rate is six-tenths of a point higher than the North Carolina rate of 4.9 percent, which dropped two-tenths of a point from February and from last year’s March rate of 5.1 percent. The state seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 4.9 percent is four-tenths of a point higher than the national rate of 4.5 percent, a drop of two-tenths of a point from February and the same month last year. Pitt’s unemployment rate ranked at 66 among the state’s 100 counties. There were 83,839 people employed in Pitt County during March, a one-month increase of 254 jobs found over February’s number and 637 more than during March of 2016, the data showed. March saw 4,651 county people unemployed, a decrease of 87 compared with February and 205 less unemployed than March of 2016. Statewide, 4,706,795 people were employed in March, a one-month increase of 15,331 above February’s number and a year-over-year increase of 111,111. The number of unemployed in North Carolina during March was 244,060, a drop of 8,149 from February and 4,697 less people unemployed than in March last year.
Unemployment rates decreased in 98 of North Carolina’s counties in March, increased in one, and remained unchanged in one. Hyde County had the highest unemployment rate at 12.3 percent, while Buncombe County had the lowest at 3.7 percent. The small decreases this month and slightly more in February (six-tenths of a point down from January) indicate that Pitt County is doing the right things to prepare for increased economic activity nationally, but still must rely on the national economy to establish more certainty before employers will risk adding to their rolls, according to ECU economist Jim Kleckley. “You can look around and see new apartment construction, retail stores opening and infrastructure development, including the Southwest Bypass and the 10th Street Connector,” Kleckley said. “To make investments like that, you have to be positive in the area. Generally, people are more positive now than they have been over the last few years, but I’m not sure if the overall economy has changed or will change very much in the near future.”
The economist said that people continue to train for work in health care, but jobs won’t necessarily be produced in Pitt County until employers have the money to pay for them. The uncertain environment created when the unification of Vidant and Brody School of Medicine/ECU physicians was put on hold last month could impact job growth in Pitt County’s medical sector, but the absence of information on that front makes it difficult to measure, Kleckley said. Private sector medical jobs should not be affected, he said. “To my knowledge, there’s been no formal hiring freeze and I see jobs still being advertised,” he said. “But anytime you create uncertainty, you’re going to see individual hesitation. I don’t know whether that makes a new doctor reconsider coming to work at one of the clinics, but decision-makers don’t like uncertainty.” The state unemployment rate essentially is down to pre-recession levels, with Pitt County a little higher. “You certainly want to see more growth in the county, and in many ways, I think we’re noticeably positioned for it,” Kleckley said. March unemployment rates in regional counties include: Beaufort at 5.4 percent, down from 5.7 in February; Craven at 4.9, down from 5.0; Duplin at 4.8, down from 5.0; Edgecombe at 7.9, down from 8.3; Greene at 4.5, down from 4.7; Lenoir at 6.3, down from 6.5; Martin at 6.1, down from 6.3; Nash at 6.3, down from 6.5; Onslow at 5.2, down from 5.4; Wayne at 5.4, down from 5.6; and Wilson at 7.5 percent, down from 8 percent in February.