For May 2020, our region (Buncombe, Henderson, Madison and Transylvania Counties) unemployment rate remains historically high at 15.8% . Buncombe County now has the #3 highest rate of any county in NC at 17.5%. Henderson County unemployment rate declined slightly to 13.4% . Madison County is at 13.1% and Transylvania County is at 10.3%. Buncombe, Henderson and Madison Counties are above the state average of 12.7%.
Our region’s streak of maintaining the lowest unemployment rate in NC ended in April 2020. Now our region has the highest unemployment rate in NC. For 61 consecutive months Buncombe County had maintained the lowest unemployment rate of any NC county and for 61 consecutive months the Mountain Area Workforce region (Buncombe, Henderson, Madison and Transylvania Counties) as well as the Asheville metro had maintained the lowest unemployment rate of any NC region.
There are 33,035 unemployed individuals in our region for May 2020, up from 32,255 unemployed individuals in our region in April 2020.
Asheville metro now has the #1 highest unemployment of any NC metro at 16.1%.
The Leisure & Hospitality sector lost 56.3% (-17,000 jobs) of the total jobs in the sector, Other Services lost 15.6% (-1,400 jobs) of the total jobs in the sector, Information lost 21.1% (-400 jobs) of the total jobs in the sector, Education & Health Services lost 11.9% (-4,500 jobs) of the total jobs in the sector, Professional & Business Services lost 20.0% (-4,500 jobs) of the total jobs in the sector, Trade Transportation & Utilities lost 9.3% (-3,400 jobs) of the total jobs in the sector, Manufacturing lost 8.2% (-1,800 jobs) of the total jobs in the sector, Mining Logging & Construction lost 3.9% (-400 jobs) of the total jobs in the sector and Financial Activities was unchanged from one year ago.
- Asheville 16.1%
- Fayetteville 15.4%
- Hickory/Lenoir/Morganton 15.0%
- Greensboro/High Point 14.5%
- Rocky Mount 13.8%
- Wilmington 13.6%
- Charlotte/Concord/Gastonia 13.2%
- Burlington 12.9%
- Winston-Salem 12.8%
- Jacksonville 11.7%
- Raleigh 11.5%
- Durham/Chapel Hill 10.6%
- New Bern 10.3%
- Greenville 10.3%
- Goldsboro 10.1%