Unemployment rates are rising or holding steady in Hickory Metro & State

According to the latest update, unemployment in Hickory Metro Counties has increased or remained stable. The report was released earlier this month by the North Carolina Department of Commerce’s Labor & Economic Analysis Division. The update showed March unemployment figures.

Catawba County’s unemployment rate stood at 3.6 percent, unchanged from February. The unemployment rate in Alexander County is also at 3.6 percent, up from 3.5 percent in the last report. Burke County’s unemployment rate was 3.5 percent, unchanged from the previous update. Caldwell County showed an unemployment rate of 3.7 percent, down from 3.6 in February.

The unemployment rate for the Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton Metropolitan Statistical Area, or MSA, is 3.6 percent, the same as the February report. Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton has the sixth lowest unemployment rate among the 15 MSAs in the state.

North Carolina has an unemployment rate of 3.7 percent, unchanged from February. Unemployment rates fell in 44 North Carolina counties, rose in 22 and remained unchanged in 34. Hyde County had the highest unemployment rate at 7.6 percent, while Greene County had the lowest at 2.8 percent.