Tagged: North Carolina Unemployment

Currently, nearly half a million North Carolinans and 43,000 Charlotteans are jobless. Recently we found out that the state’s unemployment rate for April was 8.9 percent, the first time since 2009 that it has dropped below nine percent. That’s the good news. But on July 1, House Bill 4 will cut North Carolina’s unemployment benefits making it the only state in the U.S. to lose the Federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation Program. This program is 100 percent funded and currently provides benefits to over 70,000 out of work North Carolinians who have exhausted their state benefits. There are local organizations assisting with workforce development and providing resources to the unemployed, but will they be able to help everyone who is about to lose their benefits? A conversation about the long-term unemployed, when Charlotte Talks.

North Carolina's unemployment rate has dropped to its lowest level in four years, and South Carolina's unemployment rate has declined to the lowest point in five years. That's according to figures released Friday for the month of April.

North Carolina's unemployment rate declined slightly in February to 9.4 percent. But the report released Thursday shows that unemployment is no longer steadily declining year to year.

Back in February 2010, the unemployment rate peaked in the state at 11.3 percent.

Then North Carolina started slowly but steadily recovering from the recession. In February 2011, the rate was 10.3 percent. A year later, 9.5 percent. And you could see those kind of year-over-year improvements no matter what month you looked at - at least, until this year.

Cheaters who manage to keep collecting unemployment once they've found work will face stiffer penalties and the strong possibility of losing their tax refund in 2013.  The North Carolina Division of Employment Security is trying to recover nearly $50 million in fraudulent payments.

North Carolina's been paying a record amount of unemployment during this recession, so it stands to reason that fraud has increased, too.  When you get a job, you're supposed to report that to the unemployment office so they stop sending you checks.