Triangle unemployment jumps to 4.3%

Unemployment in the Triangle rose a half-percentage point, to 4.3 percent, in the 12 months ending in February.

Data released Wednesday by the Employment Security Commission of North Carolina show that there were 36,296 unemployed people out of a total labor force of 846,597 in the seven-county Triangle region.

In February 2007, the unemployment rate was 3.8 percent, and 31,888 people were out of a job.

The figures, unlike the statewide numbers provided by ESC, are not adjusted for seasonal factors. The unadjusted seasonal employment figure across the state was 5.4 percent.

In the Raleigh-Cary area, ESC says, the largest year-over-year increase in employment came in professional and business services. The area has added 6,300 jobs in that field in the last 12 months.

The largest field of growth in the Durham area was government jobs. They increased by 3,400 year over year.