Employers throttled back on layoffs in July, cutting just 247,000 jobs, the fewest in a year, and the unemployment rate dipped to 9.4 percent.

An economist at North Carolina State University says the state’s jobless rate will peak early next year.

Employers cut a larger-than-expected 467,000 jobs in June, driving the unemployment rate up to a 26-year high of 9.5 percent, suggesting that the economy’s road to recovery will be a bumpy one.

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 track.

The Employment Security Commission says the lower rate of 7.3 percent comes because more unemployed people stopped trying to find work. The August unemployment rate was 7.6 percent.

The latest jobs report from the government shows the damage to the economy is widening. The Labor Department says the August unemployment rate soared to 6.1 percent.