Iredell County labor force numbers don't tell full story

"It's kind of frustrating," she said.

McClain, who is now actively seeking a job again, isn't alone with her frustrations in the job market. At any given time, people drop in and out of the labor force, which can affect Iredell County's unemployment rate.

In January 2009, Iredell's unemployment rate was 11.4 percent with 81,546 people in the total labor force. By June, the labor force peaked at 83,597. But in December, the county's unemployment rate was 13 percent with a total labor force of 79,246.

"(The numbers) don't give a true picture of the situation," said Mitchell Community College Economics Instructor Phil Holleran. "The reason why our labor force went down -- people stopped looking for work."

Basically, Holleran said, the numbers only tell part of the story.

The data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau in a survey of 1,500 households each month is used to calculate the number of people who are employed, unemployed, a discouraged job-seeker or those who are marginally attached to the labor force.

However, only those who are unemployed and actively seeking a job and those currently employed are counted in the labor force. Nationwide, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 10 percent in December, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. But if the number of people who are considered marginally attached or discouraged were counted, the rate would be closer to 11.4 percent.

McClain would be considered discouraged because she was not looking for work during that time period. Marginally attached workers are ready and willing to work, but haven't searched for the four weeks preceding the survey.

McClain said she started looking for a job again because she wanted to be a good example for her daughters and twin grandsons.

"I've been very determined," McClain said. "I'm willing to go the extra mile. I've got a resume floating out there somewhere. I'm happy if someone will call me."

Currently, she is searching for a job that will pay the bills until she can fulfill her dream and start the culinary arts program at Johnson and Wales in Charlotte.

Holleran said if someone is working part-time, even for economic reasons, they are counted as employed.

Part-time and marginally attached workers make a difference in the actual unemployment rate. If the number of people who are working part-time because they can't find full-time work and the 2.5 million marginally attached workers were a part of the national unemployment numbers, the rate would have jumped to 17.3 percent, according the BLS database. In North Carolina, it would have gone up from 11.2 percent in December to 16.5 percent.

The numbers don't make a distinction between employed or under-employed, Holleran said.

Employment Security Commission of North Carolina spokesman Larry Parker said the surveys conducted give the ESC a good idea of where people are living and working. A lot of times, there are seasonal factors that affect the labor force, which can also affect labor force numbers.

Stay-at-home mom Marissa Freeman has been searching for a job since August, when her youngest child started kindergarten.

After being out of the workforce for a number of years, she is trying to improve her chances of landing a job by going to a job search class at Goodwill Industries.

For now, she feels like she is in limbo.

"I can't go in there and force them to give me that opportunity," Freeman said.

She is considering going back to school to become a cosmetologist.

"When you have been looking for a while with not much luck, you are willing to try something new," Freeman said.

Statesville resident Raymond Matthews, 34, was at the Iredell JobLink office on Newton Drive on Thursday looking for something in the warehouse and transportation industry.

He said he'd like to get a factory job where he can punch his time card every day.

"It's rough," Matthews said. "There are more drivers than freight."

The good news, Holleran said, is there are signs that people are starting to spend money again. Employers will want to be sure any sign of increased spending on consumers' part continues before they start hiring in mass again.

Matthews said the outlook for his job search is fairly positive. He said there are more jobs for warehousing and transportation workers in January than there were last summer. He spent four months in 2009 looking for a job after being laid off from Holland Transfer.

Not a lot of the manufacturers around Iredell are hiring though, he said, pointing to the Employment Security Commission's job search Web site, which had only three manufacturing job postings advertised. None of them were in Statesville.

"I say they are picking up a little bit, but not a lot," Matthews said.

The job market is really rough, he said. Hiring employers want people to have clean records from the criminal backgrounds to their credit reports.

He did have this advice for job seekers.

"Never give up," he said. "There is someone out there who needs you. Someone always needs you."