Job market remains robust
Apr. 28—HIGH POINT — Area employers and job-seekers continue to put the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic in the rear-view mirror as the job market stayed strong in March.
The city of High Point's unemployment rate edged down from 4.6% in February to 4.5% in March, according to figures released Wednesday by the N.C. Department of Commerce.
The 4.5% rate last month was the second-lowest for the city since the pandemic put a stranglehold on the economy in the spring of 2020. The lowest was 4.3% in December 2021.
Statewide, unemployment rates decreased in 85 counties from February to March, increased in three and remained unchanged in 12, according to the state Commerce Department. When compared to March 2021, unemployment rates decreased in all 100 counties.
The Greensboro-High Point metropolitan area recorded a net increase of almost 1,000 new jobs in March, said Mike McCully, associate professor of economics at High Point University. The sectors that were hiring included education and health, construction and manufacturing.
The local April jobs report should show further improvement because of hiring related to the spring High Point Market, McCully said.
Possible threats to the long run of hiring by employers include ongoing supply-chain disruptions, inflation and rising interest rates, he said.
The job market gains so far this year continue the turnaround of 2021.
The average annual unemployment rate in the Greensboro-High Point metropolitan area was 5% in 2021, according to a recent report from the online researcher Filterbuy. The local jobless rate last year was slightly below the 5.3% average for the United States.
The Greensboro-High Point jobless rate dropped 3.3 percentage points since 2020, Filterbuy reports. That was a better job market performance than the nation as a whole, which had a drop of 2.8 percentage points.
Though the national, state and local job markets have recovered significantly from the pandemic, the specter of COVID-19 continues to keep some people out of the work force and make it harder for employers to fill jobs, according to a recent report by researchers with Stanford University, the University of Chicago and ITAM Business.
The researchers report that more than 10% of Americans who worked in 2019 say they will continue what the report calls "long social distancing" after the pandemic ends.
"By our estimates, long social distancing lowers force participation by about 2.5 percentage points as of early 2022," the researchers determined. "This drag on labor force participation shows no sign of abating over the past year, suggesting it could depress labor force size for a long time."
pjohnson@hpenews.com — 336-888-3528 — @HPEpaul
