Stanly County is sitting at the top of North Carolina’s jobs leaderboard, tying Currituck for the lowest unemployment rate in the state at just 2.8 percent in March. At the same time, the Charlotte metro is shuffling its payroll deck, adding thousands of health care and education jobs year over year while other industries quietly shed workers. Unemployment fell in every county across the state in March, but the mix of very low local joblessness alongside serious sector reshuffling in and around Charlotte is the real story in this latest batch of numbers.
Statewide snapshot: counties and rates
According to the N.C. Department of Commerce, not seasonally adjusted unemployment rates declined in all 100 counties in March 2026, bringing the statewide rate down to 3.5 percent. In its press release and supplemental PDF, the department lists Stanly and Currituck at 2.8 percent, the lowest rates in North Carolina, while Hyde County lands at the other end of the spectrum with 8.5 percent unemployment. Commerce also points readers to its live D4 online dashboard, which breaks out county-by-county tables and labor-force totals for anyone who wants to dig into the fine print.
Charlotte metro: health hiring explodes, manufacturing falls
As reported by Queen City News, the Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia metro posted a 3.7 percent unemployment rate in March while piling on roughly 6,600 private education and health services jobs year over year. That same coverage notes that manufacturing payrolls in the metro dropped by about 4,400 jobs over the year, and leisure and hospitality employment slid by roughly 4,100 positions. Professional and business services, on the other hand, added about 3,600 jobs.
The pattern points to a job market where growth is clustering in care-focused and professional services roles even as some long-standing goods and service employers trim their headcounts. In other words, hiring is hot, but not everywhere and not for everyone.
How the local trend lines up nationally
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics national employment report for March also showed growth in private education and health services, which helps explain why Charlotte’s health-related hiring looks so strong. The national data do not map perfectly to any single metro, but the BLS figures underscore that demand in the health sector has been a steady engine for job growth across many metro areas this year.
What this means for workers and employers
For workers, this tilt toward care and education jobs means more openings in hospitals, outpatient clinics and long-term care facilities, along with stronger hiring pipelines for clinicians, technicians and support staff. It also raises the risk of displacement for manufacturing and hospitality employees, who may find they need retraining or a career pivot to stay in the game.
Queen City News also notes that real wages in North Carolina nudged up by about 0.3 percent, a modest gain that could easily be erased by rising housing and living costs in fast-growing communities. Local workforce programs and employers will be watching closely to see whether April’s numbers confirm that this sectoral shift is sticking.
What’s next
The N.C. Department of Commerce says the next county unemployment update, covering April 2026, is scheduled for Friday, May 22, 2026. Its press release and online dashboard will again carry the full tables and county-level details. Policy makers, workforce groups and jobseekers will be eyeing that report to see whether the Charlotte region’s health sector momentum rolls on into spring or starts to level out.
