Unemployment Rates in Carolinas Cities Rise Again

Major metro areas in the Upstate and western North Carolina saw unemployment numbers rise again in May.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday the jobless figure rose in all of the 372 metropolitan areas they tracked across the country for the fifth straight month.

Greenville, Mauldin and Easley saw their number climb into double figures at 10.3% in May. That is double the number from exactly a year ago. The rate was 9.5% in April.

Anderson rose more than half a point to 11.6% while Spartanburg continues to have the highest unemployment rate in the area measured at 12.3%.

Asheville now has the lowest unemployment rate among the cities tracked by BLS in this part of the Carolinas. The western North Carolina city had a 9.2% unemployment rate. That’s up two-tenths of a percentage point over April.

The jobless rate in Asheville was 4.7% in May of 2008.