TRIAD – Talk about a welcome and dramatic change on the job front.

After more than a year of escalating unemployment across the region and state, jobless rates fell from February to March in all 100 counties, the N.C. Employment Security Commission reported Friday. The number of unemployed workers in the state decreased by 38,401 to 496,734 in March, while the number of people listed in a job increased by 66,804 to 4.06 million.

The last time no counties recorded an increase in joblessness was April 2006, when 99 counties had a drop in unemployment and one remained unchanged, according to ESC figures. The improvement in the state job market reflects national numbers released earlier this month by the U.S. Labor Department that showed net job gains during March.

Davidson County recorded a drop in unemployment from 14.2 percent in February to 13.1 percent in March. Guilford County’s rate declined from 11.8 percent to 11 percent, while Randolph County’s rate fell from 12.8 percent to 11.8 percent, according to ESC figures.

The city of High Point’s jobless rate fell from 11.8 percent in February to 11.1 percent last month.

“The number of job orders are up from this time last year. We’ve had jobs orders coming in steadily all this week,” said Charles Diggs, assistant manager of the High Point ESC office.

Despite the improvement, jobless levels remain at historically high levels. The last month when the city of High Point jobless rate bottomed out below 10 percent was January 2009, when the rate was 9.9 percent.

Despite the improvement last month, 75 counties posted double-digit jobless rates and 43 counties recorded unemployment rates of at least 12 percent, reports the economic research firm South by North Strategies Ltd.

The economy has a long way to go to recover the 280,200 jobs, or 6.7 percent of the state payroll employment base, lost since the onset of the recession in December 2007, reports Chapel Hill-based South by North Strategies.

“News that North Carolina counties experienced a decrease in the local unemployment rate is certainly welcome, but we still have challenges ahead of us,” said ESC Chairman Lynn Holmes out of Raleigh.

pjohnson@hpe.com | 888-3528