Federal jobless data issued this morning shows that North Carolina's unemployment rate has reached an all-time high using the government's most comprehensive measure.

The state's jobless rate was 17.9 percent in the third quarter, according to the so-called U6 index issued by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The previous high was 17.8 percent, set last year.

The U6 index includes people who are not counted in the more commonly cited jobless measure, the U3, which shows a 10.5 percent jobless rate for the third quarter.

The U6 was not tracked until 2005 and is still relatively obscure. Because it takes a broader view of unemployment, some consider the U6 index a more accurate picture of the national and regional economic situation. The U6 rate generally tends to be about 75 percent higher than the standard measure of unemployment, or U3 index.

The loss of over 14,500 workers from the state's economy in August pushed up the state's jobless rate for the fourth consecutive month, further indication that North Carolina is still mired in a post-recessionary rut.

The N.C. Employment Security Commission said this morning that that statewide jobless rate rose to 10.4 percent last month, up from 10.1 percent in July. The August jobless rate is the state's highest in more than a year.

The data show that the size of the state's labor force declined by 2,777 people as the number of jobless outnumbered those who are getting paychecks.

The state has added an anemic 25,600 jobs so far this year. Economists say North Carolina would have needed to add about 40,000 by this point to put a dent in the jobless rate.

"To me it looks like the economy stalled in July and August," said Mark Vitner, an economist with Wells Fargo in Charlotte. "A lot of people are saying it looks like a recession because their pipeline of business has dried up."

State regulators slashed a rate request by Aqua North Carolina, the state's biggest private water utility with 88,000 water and sewer customers, including more than 400 subdivisions in Wake County.

The N.C. Utilities Commission approved a 5.3 percent increase for Aqua, representing an additional $2.3 million a year in sales for the company. The rate increase approved is a fraction of the 19 percent the company had originally asked for.

The rate increase will be the company's second in three years, and the request in January elicited hundreds of objections from customers who said they couldn't afford higher utility bills in the middle of a severe economic downturn.

The Public Staff, the state's consumer protection agency in utility rate cases, conducted a months-long audit of Aqua's books and concluded that the company was entitled to a puny rate increase of 1.2 percent.

The utilities commission decision, issue late Monday, essentially splits the difference between Aqua's position and the Public Staff's. Aqua had scaled back its 19 percent request to about 10 percent last month when company officials realized they had aroused intense passions from customers and skepticism from regulators.

North Carolina's jobless rate in May remained stuck at 9.7 percent for the third month in a row as the state's economy limps along toward an anemic recovery.

The N.C. Employment Security Commission said this morning that the state lost 7,400 jobs in May, the first month of job losses this year.

The state had 435,358 people out of work in May.

Wells Fargo economist Mark Vitner said that employers remain cautious because of higher gasoline prices while the economy is set back by job losses in state and local government.
 

North Carolina's unemployment rate hit its highest peak last month in more than 30 years as the recession continues to ravage the state's economy.

The statewide jobless figure reached 11.2 percent in December, representing the loss of 2,400 jobs during the month, the N.C. Employment Security Commission reported this morning. It's the highest jobless rate since the state began tracking the figure in 1976 using the current methodology.

December's jobless rate surpasses the previous month's statewide rate of 10.8 percent. The nationwide jobless rate was 10 percent for December.

Most of the state's job losses last month came in leisure and hospitality, where 2,600 jobs were shed last month. The biggest employment gains came in professional and business services, which gained 1,900 jobs. 

Since the recession began in December 2007, the state has lost 248,000 jobs. During the same time, the state has paid out more than $6.5 billion in unemployment benefits to 675,300 people.

When the recession began, in December 2007, the benefits were limited to 26 weeks, but Congress has since extended the benefits to a maximum of 99 weeks.