Business

Buncombe, Henderson counties lead state in employment

By Bill Moss, Published: February 10, 2020

The region made up of Buncombe, Henderson, Madison and Transylvania counties continues to have the lowest unemployment rate at in North Carolina at 2.7% while Buncombe County has the lowest rate of any county at 2.5% followed by Henderson County, at 2.8%, the Mountain Area Workforce Development board said.

Madison County is at 3.0% and Transylvania County is at 3.3% . All four counties in the region are at or below the state unemployment rate for November 2019 of 3.3%.

In the past year since December 2018, the following sectors added jobs: Manufacturing (700 jobs), Leisure & Hospitality (300 jobs), Trade Transportation & Utilities (1,100 jobs), Mining, Logging & Construction (600 jobs), Other Services (300 jobs), Education & Health Services (2,700 jobs), Professional & Business Services (300 jobs), Information (100 jobs) and Financial Activities (100 jobs). All sectors added jobs in the past year. Education & Health Services added the highest percentage of jobs at 7.0% followed by Mining, Construction & Logging at 6.0%.

For 58 consecutive months Buncombe County has maintained the lowest unemployment rate of any NC county and for 58 consecutive months the Mountain Area Workforce region as well as the Asheville metro have maintained the lowest unemployment rate of any NC region. There are 6,051 unemployed people in the region compared to 6,735 one year ago.