Mark Barrett

mbarrett@citizen-times.com

ASHEVILLE – The average unemployment rate in Buncombe County last year was the lowest it's been since 2007 when the economy was roaring and December's rate was the lowest in the state, according to figures released Wednesday.

"We've just got a wide variety of employers," said Rick Elingburg, head of the local office of NCWorks, the state agency that helps job seekers. "The job market is very varied around here. It continues to be successful and grow."

The average jobless rate in the county for 2016 was 3.9 percent, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. That was the first time it had dipped below 4 percent since 2007.

The figures by themselves do not mean the local economy is in the same condition as it was nine or 10 years ago, but they are a positive sign.

December's unemployment rate in the county was 3.7 percent, unchanged from November and down from the 3.9 percent recorded in December 2015.

Results for the larger Asheville metropolitan area, which comprises Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson and Madison counties, were also encouraging.

The December jobless rate for the metro area was 4 percent, up slightly from November's 3.9 percent and down slightly from December 2015's 4.1 percent.

The metro area had the lowest rate of the state's 15 metropolitan areas in December. That's been true for all but five of the last 36 months, said Tom Tveidt, head of SYNEVA Economics and an expert on the region's economy.

County and metro area unemployment rates are not seasonally adjusted. Unadjusted rates for December were 4.9 percent for North Carolina and 4.5 percent for the United States.

Jobs in the Asheville area still do not pay as much as they do in the state's large metros like Charlotte and Raleigh, Tveidt said.

But, "Low unemployment is a sign of economic health," he added. He said the Asheville-area economy appears to be performing better than "some of the second-tier metros (in North Carolina), the Hickories and the Wilmingtons."

Demand for workers has resulted in "fairly strong wage growth" in Buncombe County, Tveidt said.

Unemployment rates in the Asheville area are usually highest in the first quarter of the year as jobs in tourism, retail and construction decline, and Elingburg said that pattern will continue in 2017.

But he said there are job openings in parts of the economy that generally pay good wages, including health care, manufacturing, banking, finance and real estate.

Asheville employment records continue, but job-growth rate slows

Help wanted

Here are unemployment rates for area counties.

Buncombe

December: 3.7 percent

November: 3.7 percent

December 2015: 3.9 percent

Haywood

December: 4.5 percent

November: 4.3 percent

December 2015: 4.7 percent

Henderson

December: 4.1 percent

November: 4.1 percent

December 2015: 4.3 percent

Madison

December: 4.8 percent

November: 4.4 percent

December 2015: 5.2 percent

Source: N.C. Department of Commerce