The latest state employment figures show that both the Mecklenburg County labor force and total employment number fell in September compared to August.
Almost 5300 workers disappeared from the county labor force in September, going from 462,577 to 457,286. At the same time the total number of jobs in the county fell from 414,346 to 413,477 — a loss of 869 jobs. But because of the much bigger contraction in the labor force the county unemployment rate fell from 10.4 percent to 9.6 percent for the month, the first dip below 10 percent since January 2009.
Thus far in 2010, total employment peaked in May with 415,696 jobs — 2200 more than in September. May also saw the largest work force, almost 464K workers.
