Lots of New Jobs Across the Country, But Rural North Carolina Lags

Americans saw a big jump in new jobs in January, but gaps for Black and rural North Carolinians persist.  

Lots of you got new jobs this past month.

That was the top takeaway from the monthly federal jobs report by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, which keeps tabs on how many people are working, how much people are making and more.

The report found 467,000 jobs were added around the country in January President Biden celebrated the news as a win as the country rebounds from pandemic job losses. 

The actual reality for people is mixed. Black Americans, and Black North Carolinians, experienced much higher unemployment than their white counterparts during the nearly two years of this pandemic, data has shown.

Unemployment for Black women, for example, jumped to 6.2% in December, much higher than the 3.9% overall.

And rural counties are also experiencing higher unemployment rates. North Carolina’s Scotland County, for example, had 6.9% of people looking for work in December, nearly twice the state’s 3.7% unemployment rate.