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11.27.2024
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) just released county-level unemployment rate estimates for October 2024. These preliminary data offer a first look at the impact of Hurricane Helene on local labor markets in North Carolina.
For this analysis, we define “hurricane-affected areas” as counties approved for individual assistance under FEMA disaster declaration 4827, including the mountains of North Carolina and much of the western piedmont as well as Lee and Nash counties in the central and eastern portions of the state [Figure 1].1 Unlike for most economic statistics, the BLS publishes county-level unemployment rates without any seasonal adjustments. Since these data are subject to large seasonal patterns, we compare October 2024 unemployment rates to the same month last year (October 2023) so that our analysis isn’t distorted by seasonal variation.
Overall, the combined unemployment rate of counties affected by Hurricane Helene was 3.8% in October 2024, an increase of 0.5 percentage points from October 2023. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate for the rest of the state was 3.4%, decreasing 0.1 percentage point over the year.
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