Unemployment Rate Drops Slightly in Moore County

As of Friday, May 27, 2011

The unemployment rate in Moore County dropped from 8.7 percent in March to 8.5 percent in April, the N.C. Employment Security Commission reported today.

It was the third straight month that the county rate improved.

Unemployment rates decreased in 73 of North Carolina's 100 counties in April. Rates increased in in 10 counties and remained the same in 17. Overall, the state unemployment rate remained steady in April at 9.7 percent.

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Bflat 1 year, 12 months ago

The rates only apply to those that are collecting benefits. When that expires, it doesn't take into account those that are unemployed for a longer period of time.

None 1 year, 12 months ago

The actual rate is about 17%. Since the legislature combined an Extended Benefits bill to another bill and was subsequently vetoed by Govenor Perdue, since April 16th, 47,000 North Carolinians have lost all income. Those numbers are not included as well as those who BFLAT commented on who are no longer collecting benefits or have stopped looking for work due to frustration. Many employers are now outlining in their ads, that anyone out of work for more than 6 months need not apply.

SuzColeman 1 year, 12 months ago

Totally useless figures... I don't know why they bother to even report them since they bear absolutely no relation to actual unemployment figures. First, they do not measure actual employed or unemployed numbers. While most Americans believe that the Department of Labor keeps meticulous track of the employed and unemployed, it actually uses a formula based on phone calls to a random sample of people in each state to arrive at an "estimated" unemployment figure. As Toda and Bflat pointed out, the numbers do not account for those who are no longer collecting benefits or have stopped seeking employment after months of searching. The figures do not take into account employees who have been down-sized from full to part-time, or who have had to take pay cuts to stay employed. And there's no figure that accounts for those whose hours have been decreased below 40 hours that are now without health and other benefits. It's a joke, but who's laughing. The only thing more obscene is that hostage situation going on in the General Assembly where 46,000+ unemployed are being used as pawns in a mexican budget standoff between the GOP majority and the Governor.

None 1 year, 12 months ago

And all this is going on while corporations, many of whom were bailed out at taxpayer expense, hoard trillions of dollars that could be used to put people back to work. According to Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. corporations were sitting on $1.6 trillion -- that's "trillion" -- in cash reserves last year, more than double the ratio seen before the crash. It is incomprehensible that our government would use tax dollars to provide a blank check to corporations and not require anything in return. No reputable business would do that. And while Congress provided a blank check to Wall St firms and banks, banks were busy shortening the credit lines of small businesses and/or foreclosing on the very people whose money was used to bail them out. It's insidious!
Some of that money should've be pushed down the line in the form of hiring, credit extensions and mortgage loan modifications. We are a very short-sighted society. Sad.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/hoarding-hiring-corporations-stockpile-mountain-cash/story?id=10250559

None 1 year, 12 months ago

Very well written SuzColeman, and a great thread. You have a grasp on the real unemployment picture across our state and country. Try to get a loan modification from Bank of America, one of the banks that received millions in taxpayer funds, they play the waiting games with those who have missed their last payment before foreclosure. Bflat could share actual figures on foreclosures here in Moore County. I would venture to say every family has been touched in some way with this corporate montage.

dustyrhoades 1 year, 12 months ago

Confirmation bias, explained:

http://comics.com/candorville/2011-05-29/

Bflat 1 year, 12 months ago

Information is on Moore County employment as well as unemployment rates on the NC Employment Security website if anyone wants to see the facts up close. 3081 unemployed and 33,375 employed.

Also NC foreclosure information by county is on the ncforeclosurehelp.org website with data provided by the Administrative Office of the Courts.

There is no indication that the government and courts are providing incorrect information. There is an excel sheet for data going back several years. Last year Moore County had 331 foreclosures and through April 30, 2011 there were 109. In 2010 there were 301. and 1 in 63 homes that were in foreclosure process in all of NC in 2010.

Part of but not all of the problem in trying to restructure mortgages is that all the banks have been overwhelmed by the huge numbers of those applying for it. Those that could qualify for the reduction in rate or payment usually go into foreclosure anyway. The Gov recently put something into place to try to offset those problems.

A lot of foreclosures does have a serious impact on the local economy and will drive housing prices downward. Also, local real estate companies have access to information in the mls that shows that the market for the higher prices homes has gone flat. Certain builders have houses that will be foreclosed if not sold in short sale. Oh but these things do happen in Moore County.

Perhaps Dusty can tell us about the law on whether banks are "required" to restructure a mortgage at all.

None 1 year, 11 months ago

beforeitstarts... Can't blame Bush or any other president for that matter. It's Congress, and not just this Congress, that repeatedly voted to loosen financial industry regulations. And it's been going on since the late '70's. Remember when you got your mortgage from a savings & loan and it was a 30-year conventional mortgage with a fixed rate? The lending industry was highly regulated and lenders could not lend outside of their own state. Then came de-regulation... Merrill Lynch came out with its money market account that offered a higher rate than S&L cd's. S&L's wanted to be able to offer a competitive product, so they lobbied Congress to allow them to offer money market checking accounts. What happened? Their account holders moved their money from CD's into MMA's and the S&L ended up paying more for the same money. So they lobbied Congress for a new product called an adjustable rate mortage that would float with the economic ups and downs... and so on and so on... Lenders packaged up the loans and sold them on the secondary market, Wall St got involved, the entire financial industry lobbied Congress to eliminate more and more of the very regulations put into place by FDR and Congress to prevent banks from collapsing like they did in 1929... as I said, we are a short-sighted society and greed governs. Sad.

None 1 year, 11 months ago

SuzColeman ~ another good thread and one that strikes at the heart of the beginning of investment Hedge-fund corruption in Washington, lobbyists and banking. Edward Shilling was one of the framers of S&L corruption for which he served time in the federal pen. One mortgage company that cleaned out bank accounts was Countrywide Home Loans. Their mortgage paper is now divided up between Wells Fargo and Bank of America. In order for for those who have fallen on hard times to apply for a mortgage adjustment, they want homeowners to be in default for at least 3 months. There goes the beacon score and credit worthiness. So a potential 2% rate goes to 7.49%. It's all about greed - indeed.

Phoena 1 year, 11 months ago

Unemployment has NOT dropped, not even by a little. Never use the Employment Security Commission's information when it comes to this. That's like asking Social Services to help you with family matters... Just not a good idea. The ESC goes by the amount of people requesting unemployment benefits/assistance, but after a while people get tired of putting in the requests, forms and data to get ESC's help and they stop trying too get help, therefore, using ESC is not the correct resource to use.

Bflat 1 year, 11 months ago

The article uses its source of unemployment rates as the ESC and that is why I responded about unemployment benefits and the rates used. If one wants to use Dept of Labor Statistics...go ahead.