TRIAD – Job service counselor Sheila Barnes keeps hoping that each month’s release of unemployment statistics offers the possibility that the area job market hit bottom.

Her latest hope is that the bottom came in February.

The N.C. Employment Security Commission on Wednesday released local jobless figures for February that showed little change from the high level of unemployment for January. But national job market figures for March show promising signs, and Barnes hopes that promise translates in the Piedmont.

“We are seeing an uptick in job listings, particularly some manufacturers listing an opening here and there. We’re hopeful we’ve hit bottom, but it’s a tough call,” said Barnes, acting manager for the Randolph County ESC office.

Barnes said she hopes state and local jobless figures for March, which will be released by the ESC in the coming weeks, will reflect the national improvement.

The U.S. Labor Department reported last week that American employers added 162,000 net jobs last month, the best performance since the onset of the recession in late 2007.

In February, the city of High Point rate slipped down to 11.8 percent from 11.9 percent in January. Davidson County’s unemployment level edged up slightly from 14.1 percent to 14.3 percent, as did Randolph County’s rate from 12.7 percent to 12.9 percent. Guilford County’s rate remained unchanged at 11.8 percent, according to ESC figures.

One sobering reflection of the impact of the recession on the state’s job market – no North Carolina counties had February jobless rates at or below 5 percent, the benchmark for full employment during better times.

Since the formal start of the recession in December 2007, the state has shed 6.8 percent of its payroll employment base, or 282,500 positions, reports the Chapel Hill-based research firm South by North Strategies Ltd.

The state’s unadjusted unemployment rate has climbed from 4.7 percent in December 2007 to 11.8 percent in February.

pjohnson@hpe.com | 888-3528