N.C. May unemployment rate holds at 9.4 percent

More people found work in May, but it wasn’t enough to make traction on the state’s high unemployment rate.

The Tarheel state’s unemployment rate held steady last month at 9.4 percent, according to figures released Friday by the N.C. Division of Employment Security.

The newly released figures, however, are an improvement from May 2011 totals, when the state’s unemployment rate registered at 10.5 percent.

The number of unemployed individuals decreased by 3,675 to 435,908. The state's overall labor force shrank by 9,478 to 4.7 million during the month, according to state figures.

Meanwhile, despite making announcements for thousands of new jobs in the Palmetto State, South Carolina saw its unemployment rate jump from 8.8 percent in April to 9.1 percent in May, according to the state’s Department of Employment and Workforce Commission. Tennessee also saw its unemployment rate rise from 7.7 in April to 7.9 percent in May, according to the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Virginia’s unemployment rate held steady at 5.6 percent.

The national unemployment rate for May is 8.2 percent, a slight increase from 8.1 percent in April.