The Bureau of Labor Statistics is the division of the Department of Labor that is responsible for compiling information about unemployment throughout the nation. The Bureau does this in two ways the first is by examining information about statewide employment statistics as well as compiling information which focuses on the labor market in major metropolitan areas.
In the case of North Carolina, the major metropolitan areas for which information about unemployment in NC are gathered are:
· the Asheville, NC metropolitan area,
· the Burlington, NC metropolitan area,
· the Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, NC-SC metropolitan area,
· the Durham-Chapel Hill, NC metropolitan area,
· the Fayetteville, NC metropolitan area,
· the Goldsboro, NC metropolitan area,
· the Greensboro-High Point, NC metropolitan area,
· the Greenville, NC metropolitan area,
· the Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC metropolitan area,
· the Jacksonville, NC metropolitan area,
· the Raleigh-Cary, NC metropolitan area,
· the Rocky Mount, NC metropolitan area,
· the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC metropolitan area,
· the Wilmington, NC metropolitan area,
· and the Winston- Salem, NC metropolitan area.
Unemployment in NC is obviously influenced by the economic realities in surrounding areas. This is why it is impossible for the Bureau of Labor Statistics to compile an accurate report on NC unemployment issues without taking into account factors from the surrounding region. As best as the Bureau can determine, however, the civilian labor force in the state over the six month period from March 2010 to August 2010 dropped from 4,564,000 individuals in March to 4,492,000 individuals, with the NC unemployment rate dropping from 11.1 percent to 9.7 percent.
