WASHINGTON: The Triangle’s unemployment rate fell to 4.9 percent in March, pushing the region’s unemployment rate a notch below the national average. The jobless rate for the region declined from 5.1 percent in February. The national unemployment rate for March was 5 percent. Jobs and unemployment data were released Wednesday by the N.C. Department of Commerce and seasonally adjusted by Wells Fargo Securities in Charlotte.
The Triangle added 1,100 nonfarm jobs in March. “Job growth has remained fairly strong this year, with most industries adding workers,” Wells Fargo economist Mark Vitner wrote in an email. “Construction, retail trade and the hospitality sector all continue to benefit by the continued influx of new residents into the region.” Based on the jobs data in the first four months of this year, “the Triangle is well on its way to adding another 20,000 to 25,000 jobs” in 2016, Vitner added.
The Triangle’s unemployment rate was also 4.9 percent in January, but it rose two-tenths of a percentage point in February. For the past year the Triangle’s jobless rate has fluctuated between 4.8 percent and 5.2 percent.
N.C. State University Michael Walden anticipates that the Triangle’s unemployment rate will decline the rest of this and could be “in the low 4’s” in December. “This is one of the best metropolitan areas for job growth,” Walden said. He added that the 1,100 jobs added in March is “a little lower than what I think we’ll average for the year.” North Carolina’s unemployment rate for March stood at 5.5 percent.
