By Catherine M. Welch
Wilmington, NC – North Carolina's unemployment rate for November is at 7.9%, the highest in 25 years.
Every one of North Carolina's 100 counties saw a rise in unemployment, with the northeastern county of Edgecombe topping the state at 13.3%.
The state says it's seeing a big loss in manufacturing and retail sectors. North Carolina Employment Security Commission spokesperson Larry Parker says the state was hoping the November numbers would reflect mass hiring for the holiday season.
"But it looks like maybe that retailers took more of a reactive approach to hiring this year. Usually that first week in November is when we start getting calls from retailers asking for workers, and we just didn't see that this year in November."
Parker says the seasonal dip in tourism is also taking a big bite out of coastal economies.
Numbers From Across the Cape Fear Region
Brunswick County: 8.8%
Columbus County: 9.5%
New Hanover County: 6.9%
Pender County: 8.3%
Click here to search through North Carlolina's unemployment database.
Heavy Demand Jams NC Unemployment Website
North Carolina unemployment officials are closely monitoring their website after record numbers of people using it to sign up for benefits caused the website to crash.
North Carolina's Unemployment Securities Commission says its servers where overwhelmed, causing the agency's website to crash twice this week.
The computer problems were compounded with phone line problems. And the agency says the technical glitches blocked tens of thousands of people from filing unemployment claims.
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