Mecklenburg County’s unemployment rate rose to 9.7 percent in January from 9.2 percent in December, according to nonseasonally adjusted figures released Friday by the N.C. Department of Commerce.

The county’s rate was unchanged from January of 2012.

Every county in North Carolina, and all 14 metropolitan areas in the state, saw their unemployment rates rise in January from December.

The state’s nonseasonally adjusted rate for January was 10.2 percent.

The Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill area’s unemployment rate increased to 10 percent in January from 9.4 percent in December but was down from 10.1 percent in January of 2012.

Nationwide, the unemployment rate was 7.9 percent in January.

In the Charlotte metro area in January, employment was up in every sector but “financial activities” when compared with a year ago. The leisure and hospitality sector logged the largest percentage increase in employment in the Charlotte area. That sector grew by 11,000 jobs, or 12.7 percent.

Financial services employment fell by 800 jobs, or 1.1 percent.

Michelle Fish, CEO of Integra, a Charlotte-based staffing and executive search firm, said the Charlotte area has plenty of job openings in the information technology sector. But there’s a shortage of skilled workers to fill those jobs, she added.

“Everything that we’re seeing, 70 percent, is IT positions,” she said. “We have more positions than we can fill in the IT sector.”

Employment in the information sector grew by 500 jobs, or 2.3 percent, in the Charlotte metro area in January compared with the same month a year ago.

Here is a look at unemployment rates in the Charlotte region compared with January 2012:

• Anson: 12.8 percent; up from 11.6.

• Cabarrus: 9.4; up from 9.3.

• Catawba: 11.6; down from 11.9.

• Caldwell: 12; down from 12.5.

• Cleveland: 11.3; up from 10.9.

• Gaston: 11.1; unchanged.

• Iredell: 10.4; down from 10.6.

• Lincoln: 10.8; unchanged.

• Union: 8.6 percent; down from 8.7.

The people having trouble finding jobs are those who are trying to switch careers without enough experience in the fields they are trying to enter, Fish said.

Her advice for people looking for work is to make sure to note on their resumes any community involvement and global travel. Those items make a job candidate seem more well-rounded, she said.