Surry Business

Surry County’s resident workforce swelled to new high for the year, 35,195, in October, the North Carolina Employment Security Commission announced Wednesday. The number of Surry County residents with jobs also was the largest since June; the total grew from 32,839 in September to 33,087 in October.

Although 250 more people found jobs, there was a net increase of about 100 jobseekers — mainly people thrown into the marketplace after textile and apparel industries closed manufacturing operations in Mount Airy — and Surry County’s unemployment rate rose to 6.0 percent in October, its highest level since February 2006.

When the Employment Security Commission announced its workforce data in September, Surry County was the only North Carolina county whose unemployment rate went up in August. From August to September, however, joblessness rose in 12 counties. In this newest report, 55 N.C. counties have higher unemployment. In the 12-county Piedmont Triad region alone there were eight counties (including Surry) with higher unemployment, three unchanged and one (Yadkin County) with slightly less joblessness.

According to this week’s report, Surry County’s resident workforce in October is slightly (70 people) larger than in the same month a year ago. Slightly less than 33,100 are employed, compared with almost 33,500 in October 2006. More than 2,100 people in Surry County were seeking work last month compared to 1,644 12 months earlier when the jobless rate was 4.7 percent.

UPDATE: The Mount Airy News today (Nov. 29) has an article about the new unemployment numbers, including details of the job losses this year.