TRIAD – Local unemployment rates in the greater High Point area fell from July to August, though analysts say seasonal factors may have had as much to do with the decline than an improvement in the region’s economy.

Jobless rates decreased last month in the city of High Point and in Davidson, Guilford and Randolph counties, according to statistics released by the N.C. Employment Security Commission Friday. Even with the drop, local jobless rates remain at levels not recorded in about 30 years – or, in the case of High Point, since the state job service agency started tracking municipal unemployment figures in 1976.

High Point’s unemployment rate dropped from 12.2 percent in July to 11.6 percent last month. But one reflection of the recession – the city jobless rate was 7.1 percent in August 2008, meaning that 3,262 fewer High Pointers are in the employed labor force now compared to a year ago.

Davidson County, which has the highest unemployment rate in the region, recorded a dip from 13.4 percent in July to 13.1 percent in August, the ESC reports.

Randolph County’s rate decreased from 11.8 percent to 11.4 percent, while Guilford County’s level fell from 11.7 percent to 11.4 percent.

Statewide, jobless rate dropped in 90 of 100 counties from July to August, the ESC reports.

Some of the decline reflects seasonal factors as college and high school students withdraw from the official labor force to return to school.

“Most counties experienced some loss in the labor force – people moving away and looking for work in other areas, students returning to school or some people exhausting their (unemployment) benefits,” said Moses Carey Jr., ESC chairman in Raleigh.

August was the first month since October 2008 in which North Carolina employers created more positions than they eliminated by a margin of 7,000, reports John Quinterno, principal analyst with the South by North Strategies Ltd. research firm based in Chapel Hill.

“Since the recession’s onset, North Carolina has lost, on net, 253,400 payroll jobs – an amount equivalent to over 6 percent of all the jobs that existed in December 2007,” Quinterno reported.

Even with the decline during August, 63 counties recorded double-digit rates of unemployment, and 34 posted unemployment rates of at least 12 percent, Quinterno reports.

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