The Triangle jobs picture took a turn for the worse in June, confirming the economists' gloomy expectations.

The jobless rate for the Triangle inched up to 8.1 percent, up from 7.8 percent in May.

The regional economy shrunk by 500 jobs.

And the number of people looking for work also decreased by 1,000.

All three measures, issued this morning by the N.C. Employment Commission, show that the Triangle's economy is moving backwards.

"It's hard to be too optimistic," said Wells Fargo economist Mark Vitner. "The economy has much less momentum than we previously thought."

The Triangle's jobless rate cycled back down in May to 7.7 percent, remaining stuck in the range where it has hovered throughout the year.

May's jobless rate is a drop from 7.9 percent in April, when the regional and national economy had taken a turn for the worse. The Triangle's economy is much healthier than the state overall, which posted a jobless rate of 9.7 percent last month.

The regional jobless figures were issued this morning by the N.C. Employment Security Commission and seasonally adjusted by Wells Fargo in Charlotte.

N.C. State University professor Michael Walden predicts a slow-motion recovery over the next few years as North Carolina and the nation continue to deal with a weak housing market and high levels of household debt that built up before the downtown.

In a new report, Walden forecasts that the state's unemployment rate will be 9.2 percent at the end of this year, 8.6 percent at the end of 2012 and 7.7 percent at the end of 2013.

North Carolina's unemployment rate was 9.7 percent in May. 

Walden forecasts that the state's unemployment rate will remain above the national rate for all three years.

Job growth will accelerate from between 12,000 and 18,000 jobs this year to 35,000 to 55,000 positions in 2012 and 50,000 to 75,000 jobs in 2013.

Those gains would leave the state about 200,000 jobs short of employment levels before the recession.

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.
 

Saying "enough is enough," Gov. Bev Perdue today issued an executive order extending benefits for 47,000 unemployed North Carolinians, Charlotte Observer staff writer Jim Morrill reports.

Perdue and Republican legislative leaders have been at odds for weeks over the extension, which expired in April.

An extension is included in a $19.7 billion GOP-backed state budget passed this week by the Senate and expected to be approved tomorrow by the House.

"Republicans in the legislature stubbornly cling to their political games," Perdue said in a statement.

GOP legislative leaders plan a 1:30 p.m. news conference to answer Perdue.

The state's unemployment rate held steady in April, remaining at 9.7 percent for the second month in a row.

New figures released today by the N.C. Employment Security Commission showed that the state added 2,900 nonfarm jobs during April.

"We continue to be encouraged by the job growth we have seen over the last few months," said ESC Chairman Lynn Holmes.

Since April 2010, the unemployment rate has dropped from 11.1 percent, and the number of unemployed workers has decreased by 70,471.

North Carolina's jobless rate remains near all-time high levels using the federal government's broadest measure of unemployment.

The state's jobless rate was 17.5 percent in the first quarter, according to the U6 index issued Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The U6 index includes people who are not counted in the more commonly used jobless measure: people who are forced to take part-time jobs because they can't find full-time work, and those who become so discouraged they stop looking for work.

After nearly two weeks of inaction, state legislators could soon restore jobless benefits to 37,000 job seekers who would otherwise lose their unemployment insurance Friday.

The state Senate could vote as early as today to extend the benefits, setting up a state House of Representatives vote tomorrow to get the money out to jobless residents.

But Republican leaders in the General Assembly have linked the unemployment benefits, which are a priority for Gov. Bev Perdue, to a GOP budte. That way, if Perdue wants to support the state's jobless, she'll also have to vote for the Republican budget.

The Triangle's jobless rate continued to show steady improvement in February, suggesting that local employers are slowly resuming hiring.

The unemployment rate for the Raleigh-Durham area fell to 7.6 percent in February, down from 7.9 percent in January. The data were released today by the N.C. Employment Security Commission and adjusted for seasonal affects by Wells Fargo Securities economists in Charlotte.

The News & Observer uses the seasonally adjusted rates to provide a more accurate comparison to the state and national averages, which also are adjusted.

The local rate remains well below the state and national rates, reflecting this region's concentration of relatively stable industries such as health care, technology and education.

The state's unemployment rate dropped 9.7 percent for February, a slight decline from 9.8 percent in January.

The new rate, released by the N.C. Employment Security Commission today, reflected a non-farm job increase of 17,400 and is markedly down from the 11.4 percent unemployment rate of February 2010.

“We are showing signs of slow but steady progress, with job gains in February and over-the-year," said ESC Chairman Lynn Holmes."Here at the ESC we remain committed to assisting out-of-work citizens with training and services to get then through these hard times and back to work."

Still, the state's unemployment rate remained higher than the national average, which was reported at 8.9 percent for February.