Mecklenburg's unemployment rate rose in December to 9.9 percent, up from 9.7 percent in November, but unchanged from a year earlier, according to figures released Wednesday by the N.C. Department of Commerce Division of Employment Security.

For the Charlotte, Gastonia and Rock Hill metro area, the jobless rate in December was 10.3 percent, up from 9.9 percent the month before.

North Carolina's statewide unemployment rate - not seasonally adjusted - for December was 9.8 percent. The national unemployment rate for December was 8.5 percent; the January rate will be announced Friday.

John Quinterno, a principal with South by North Strategies Ltd. in Chapel Hill, called the December numbers "a weak end to a weak year for most of North Carolina's labor markets."

He said that while unemployment "remains an alarmingly significant problem" in the Charlotte area, other metro areas in the state are faring worse. He cited as an example the Hickory, Lenoir and Morganton area, where the jobless rate in December stood at 11.9 percent. Still, of the state's three biggest metros, Charlotte's has the highest unemployment: Raleigh-Cary's rate for December was 8 percent, while Greensboro-High Point's figure was 10 percent.

Both Quinterno and John Connaughton, a professor at UNC Charlotte, emphasized the importance of comparing rates year over year, not month to month, citing lack of seasonal adjustment in the latter numbers. For example, in December 2010, the rate was 10.7 percent, compared with 10.3 percent last December.

Between December 2010 and December 2011, unemployment rates rose in 68 of North Carolina's 100 counties and in eight of the state's 14 metro areas. Mecklenburg and the Charlotte area bucked that trend.

For a broader perspective, Quinterno noted that the Charlotte metro's jobless rate in December 2007, when the U.S. recession officially began, was 4.9 percent. Given that, he said, December's numbers remain "shockingly bad."

In December, the total nonfarm employment for the Charlotte metro area was 809,900. The government sector in the Charlotte area recorded the biggest loss in jobs year over year in December at 3,900, or 3.3 percent. Conversely, trade, transportation and utilities showed a net gain year over year of 3,900 jobs, or 2.3 percent.

Connaughton said while the U.S. has gained back 27 percent of the jobs lost during 2008-09, the peak of the recession, the Charlotte area has gained back only 13 percent in the last two years.

Connaughton predicted that this year's unemployment numbers will be better than 2011's, but he said there's a "wild card" - the European sovereign debt crisis. "My outlook is for modest growth, but that's assuming Greece doesn't default," he said.

Orange County reported the state's lowest unemployment rate in December at 6.1 percent. Graham County recorded the highest rate at 17.5 percent. Byers: 704-358-5049