North Carolina’s state unemployment rate increased 0.2 percent in May, to 5.7 percent, according to figures released by the N.C. Department of Commerce’s Labor and Economic Analysis Department on Friday.
Nationwide, the unemployment rate also increased slightly, to 5.5 percent.
The May 2015 unemployment rate is still 0.6 of a percentage point lower than the same time period last year. The report means that the number of people employed increased by 16,769 from April to 4,498,193, and increased by 158,939 since May of last year. At the same time, the number of people receiving unemployment benefits increased by 12,627 from April to 272,663, but declined by 19,275 since May 2014.
According to Friday’s report, the industry with the largest increase in employment from April to May was education and health services, with 2,800, followed by construction at 2,400. Other industries that saw increases in employment over the month were: leisure and hospitality services, 2,300; manufacturing, 1,800; government, 1,500; professional and business services, 1,500; information, 700; financial activities, 500; other services, 400; and mining and logging, 200. The only major industry experiencing a decrease was trade, transportation and utilities, at 3,700.
The next unemployment update will be released on July 1, when the county numbers for May 2015 will be released.