Jan. 6--The Triad's job market grew bleaker in November, with the unemployment rate hitting 8 percent, a rise of nearly 1 percentage point, the N.C. Employment Security Commission reported today.

The rate for the combined statistical area was 7.1 percent in October. The rate has jumped more than 3 percentage points, from 4.7 percent, in November 2007.

Hitting an 8 percent jobless rate was not unexpected considering that several economists had been predicting such a rate increase for the state and the region since June. The state's rate was 7.9 percent in October.

But according to the commission, it is the largest one-month increase in the Triad's jobless rate in almost 12 years. The rate jumped to 5.1 percent in January 1996 from 3.3 percent in December 1995.

The commission began providing a jobless rate for the Triad's combined statistical area in January 2005, as mandated by changes made by the U.S. Labor Department. That change also split the Triad into two metropolitan statistical areas -- Winston-Salem and Greensboro-High Point.

The commission has revised its jobless figures for the combined statistical area as far back as January 1990.

"We do not have any CSA data before 1990, so the Triad rate has never been at 8 percent -- until now," said Larry Parker, a spokesman for the commission.

The rate for the Winston-Salem MSA was 7.2 percent in November, up from 6.5 percent in October. The MSA consists of Davie, Forsyth, Stokes and Yadkin counties.

By comparison, the Greensboro-High Point MSA was at 8.1 percent in November, up from 7 percent in October. The MSA consists of Guilford, Randolph and Rockingham counties.

The jobless rate for Forsyth was 7.1 percent in November, up from 6.4 percent in October.

Local jobless rates are projected to exceed 8 percent by mid-2009, considering that the region hasn't fully absorbed the blows from at least 11 major layoffs affecting more than 3,300 workers.

No industry sector appears immune to the downturn

Jobs are being eliminated across the board -- whether manufacturers such as Furniture Brands International Inc., Hanesbrands Inc. and Vaughan-Bassett Furniture Co. Inc., white-collar layoffs at R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and Triad Guaranty Inc., or cuts made by small businesses, government agencies and nonprofits.

Questions remain about how many of Wachovia Corp.'s 2,900 local jobs will be cut or transferred as Wells Fargo & Co. merges bank operations over the next two years.

And much like furniture and textile jobs earlier in the decade, there are fewer local job options for white-collar workers, particularly in the financial-services sector.

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