In some good news for the economy, North Carolina’s unemployment rate dropped below 10 percent for the first time in more than a year, according to data released from the N.C. Department of Commerce. The data show the state’s unemployment rate in February at 9.9 percent, reports the News & Observer . That’s down from 10.2 percent in January, when North Carolina had the country’s fourth-highest jobless rate. There were nearly 12,000 fewer people unemployed in North Carolina in February.
Still, the state’s jobless rate for the month remained much higher than the national rate of 8.3 percent. The commerce department says employers added 47,000 more jobs than they cut in the year ending in February, with private businesses responsible for 94 percent of those positions. North Carolina lost more than 330,000 jobs by the time the national recession bottomed out two years ago. Read More.