Mecklenburg County unemployment rate rises to 5.5 percent

After months of improvement, the Mecklenburg County unemployment rate jumped back up in May, the N.C. Department of Commerce reported Wednesday.

The rate, which had fallen from 5.4 percent to 4.9 percent since January, rose to 5.5 percent. Mecklenburg County’s rate is still lower than it was most of last year.

The county added almost 3,500 jobs, but the new positions couldn’t keep pace with an increase in the labor force of almost 6,800.

Labor force increases can be attributed to newcomers to the county as well as more local residents looking for work. People are not considered part of the labor force if they are not actively seeking a job.

Rick Kaglic, a Charlotte-based economist for the Federal Reserve Bank, said the growing labor force is a good sign for economy long-term.

“(This year), we’re seeing meaningful broad-based job growth in the region,” Kaglic said. “(The unemployment rate) is going to stay higher for longer until those folks who have entered the labor force are absorbed into employment.”

Employers in the 13 surrounding counties that make up Charlotte’s Metropolitan Statistical Area reported employing 9,300 more workers in May than they did in April. Almost 70 percent of these jobs were added in the leisure and hospitality sector, according to the report.

On Wednesday, the Commerce Department also reported a revised state unemployment rate for May of 5.9 percent, up from the previously reported number of 5.7 percent. The unemployment rate was 5.2 percent in April.

Across the state, the unemployment rate rose in 97 of the 100 counties, the department reported. Here are the rates in area counties:

▪ Cabarrus County’s rate rose from 4.6 percent to 5.3 percent.

▪ Gaston County’s rate rose from 5.4 percent to 6 percent.

▪ Iredell County’s rate rose from 4.9 percent to 5.6 percent.

▪ Lincoln County’s rate rose from 4.8 percent to 5.4 percent.

▪ Union County’s rate rose from 4.3 percent to 4.9 percent.

This story was originally published July 1, 2015 at 11:52 AM with the headline "Mecklenburg County unemployment rate rises to 5.5 percent."