Triangle adds 7,700 jobs since February; 26,100 since last year

Durham, Wake, Orange and Chatham all rank in top seven counties in terms of the employment rate

Triangle area employment increased in March compared both to February and to March of last year.

Between the Durham/Chapel Hill and Raleigh/Cary statistical areas, employment here increased by 7,700 nonfarm jobs from February to March, about 1 percent, and by 26,100 compared with March of 2013, about 3 percent, according to data released Tuesday morning from the N.C. Employment Security Commission.

Nonfarm employment excludes workers in general government, including teachers, private households, nonprofit organizations and individual or corporate farms. The “nonfarm” economy makes up roughly 77 percent of the total gross domestic product, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The government calculates that figure based on a survey of employers, while it calculates the unemployment rate based on a survey of households.

As has been consistent for years, and even more pronounced since the economic recovery, urban areas like the Triangle, Triad and Charlotte have had better employment rates than rural areas. Durham, Wake, Orange and Chatham all rank in top seven counties in terms of the employment rate.

State leaders have been touting the increasing employment rates, though their measure of overall employment is only half true.

One of the major policies implemented last year was to reduce the length of time that individuals receive unemployment benefits after being laid off. This policy has had the affect of artificially reducing the unemployment rate, the figure often touted by lawmakers.

By reducing benefits, the household unemployment survey technically tallies fewer people in the labor force, even if those people haven’t actually found jobs or stopped looking for work. Reducing the officially counted labor force number, even if that number is reduced artificially because of reduced unemployment benefits, will drive the unemployment rate down – artificially in North Carolina.

Therefore, a better measure of the employment picture in North Carolina is to look at the total jobs figure, which has shown an increase of about 1.6 percent since last year.

Jason deBruyn covers Health Care, Higher Education, Nonprofits and Sports Business for Triangle Business Journal.