Preliminary employment figures for January released this week by the Employment Security Commission of North Carolina showed Person County with an unemployment rate of 6.4 percent. That was up from the ESC’s revised jobless rate of 5.9 percent for the county in December 2007. Initially, the ESC had reported Person County’s December jobless rate at 5.7 percent.

The higher January rate of unemployment mirrored the trend across the state for the month, when 99 of the state’s 100 counties saw higher unemployment. Only Alexander County posted a lower rate in January, which was down only two-tenths of one percent from December.

Higher joblessness is typical for January in North Carolina. Person County has experienced a higher January unemployment rate from the previous December in four of the past six years.

While Person County saw unemployment rise in January, the total workforce and total employment both fell for the month.

The January workforce, the number available for work, totaled 19,267, down from 19,845 in December.

At the same time, total employment fell to 18,038 from 18,709 in December, according to the ESC’s preliminary figures.

The number of unemployed Personians stood at 1,229 in January, up from 1,136 a month earlier.

Commenting on the unemployment upturn in January, ESC Chairman Harry E Payne Jr. said, “Unemployment rates typically increase during this time of the year as seasonal weather slows down construction and other outdoor jobs. This is also the time when some workers leave part-time holiday season jobs. Since this time last year, more than 15,600 workers have found employment” statewide.

Across the state in January, Orange County posted the lowest unemployment rate at 3.4 percent. Hyde County posted the highest rate at 11.1 percent. Three counties had double-digit jobless rates in January compared to none in December 2007.