Gaston County’s jobless rate was in single digits for the third month in a row this October. Unemployment numbers out Thursday showed the county hitting a five-year year low. A federal government shutdown delayed county jobs numbers earlier in the year. September and October jobless rates for counties were not available until this week.
A look at how the numbers stacked up:
8.3 percent- Gaston’s jobless rate for October. That’s the lowest it’s been since September 2008, when 7.6 percent of the working population reported being out of a job.
8.4 percent - Gaston’s jobless rate for September
10 percent - Gaston’s jobless rate for September 2012
11.7 percent - Gaston’s jobless rate in October 2012
14.7 percent - The highest jobless rate Gaston has seen in the last 10 years. The county hit that high-water mark in January and February of 2010
Out there looking: One common criticism about the way we keep track of unemployment in the U.S.: It doesn’t count everyone. The only people counted as members of the labor force are folks who are (a) employed or (b) have looked for work in the last month. So when the labor force is higher, it can indicate more confidence in the job market. The lower it is, the less likely our unemployment rate paints the truest possible picture of the market.
104,111- The Oct. 2012 labor force in Gaston County, which was the highest in the last 10 years
101,317- Number of people employed or looking for work in Gaston County this October
101,033 - Number of people in Gaston County’s labor force in September
100,656 - Number of people in Gaston County’s labor force in September 2012
96,742 - The low mark for Gaston County’s work force since the beginning of The Great Recession. We hit the low in January 2011.
Source: Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics