Mecklenburg County added 7000 jobs from February to March, the first clear sign of a jobs recovery in two years. The resulting decline in unemployment from 11.8 percent to 11.1 percent is by far the largest drop in since the economic downturn began.

The total number of jobs in the county stands at 410,000, a level not attained since January 2009. But in March 2008 the county had 442,000 jobs meaning we are still some 32,000 short of where we were pre-recession. The question going forward is if that total employment number can be maintained or even grown in the coming months. The work force will almost certainly continue to grow — it is still 10 to 12K off of peak 2008 levels.

The Charlotte metro region as a whole added about 12,000 jobs during the same period, leaving it about 58,000 job short of peak, pre-recession levels.