Joey Goble has applied for two or three jobs per week since June and has tried to find work through staffing agencies from Hickory to Gastonia.
"So far it has pretty much been wasted ink," said the 30-year-old Claremont man, who was laid off this summer from a distribution job with a local hosiery company.
Goble, a high school graduate with two years of college, was among people looking for work Friday afternoon at the N.C. Employment Security Commission office on U.S. 70, SE.
While state figures show the region's jobless rate dropped slightly in July, job seekers like Goble remain frustrated.
"It's rough out there," he said.
Unemployment in the Greater Hickory Metro was 15.1 percent in July, down slightly from a revised rate of 15.3 percent in June. It is the highest jobless rate among the state's 14 metropolitan statistical areas.
Catawba County's unemployment rate was 14.9 percent in July, down from 15.5 percent in June. The county's jobless rate peaked at 15.6 percent in March, the highest it has been since 1975.
Other area rates for July were 14.9 percent in Alexander County, down from 15.4 percent in June; 15 percent in Burke County, up from 14.9 percent in June; and 15.6 percent in Caldwell County, unchanged from June.
Hickory's unemployment rate in July was 12.8 percent, unchanged from June. In July 2008, Hickory's jobless rate was 6.8 percent.
In July, unemployment rates decreased in 59 of North Carolina's 100 counties, increased in 29 counties and remained the same in 12, according to statistics released Friday by the N.C. Employment Security Commission.
Among the state's 14 metropolitan statistical areas, Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton ranked No. 1 in joblessness for the seventh consecutive month. It was followed by Rocky Mount, where the July unemployment rate was 14.1 percent, down from 14.3 percent in June.
Coastal Currituck and Hyde counties had the state's lowest unemployment rate in July, at 5.5 percent. Scotland County had the highest jobless rate, at 17.1 percent.
Statewide, the unemployment rate was 11 percent in July, unchanged from June.
The national jobless rate was 9.4 percent in July, down slightly from 9.5 percent in June.
Outside of coastal counties, which traditionally experience jobless rate decreases due to tourism and the need for summer workers, North Carolina has not had as much summer hiring compared to previous years, said Moses Carey Jr., N.C. Employment Security Commission chairman.
While the slight decrease in Catawba County's jobless rate from June to July was good news, it is still very much an employers' job market, said Allan Mackie, manager of the Employment Security Commission office here.
"Any drop at this point is welcome," he said.
Mackie said Catawba County's unemployment rate usually ticks upward in July as many manufacturers shut down temporarily.
The slight decrease in unemployment the county experienced this July could signal the beginning of a downward trend in area jobless rates, he said.
On the other hand, it could simply reflect the massive manufacturing losses the region has already experienced, Mackie said.
The N.C. Employment Security Commission said 12,000 more people in the Greater Hickory Metro were unemployed in July 2009 than in July 2008. About 6,700 of those people had been employed in manufacturing.
About 29 percent of the Hickory region's jobs are in manufacturing, compared to a national average of 10 percent.
Since mid-2000, the Greater Hickory Metro has lost more than 35,000 manufacturing jobs.
"Our manufacturing base continues to be a source of stress for us," Mackie said.
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