Raleigh, N.C. – The state’s seasonally adjusted November 2024 unemployment rate was 3.7 percent, unchanged from October’s revised rate. The national rate increased 0.1 of a percentage point to 4.2 percent.

North Carolina’s unemployment rate increased 0.1 of a percentage point from a year ago. The number of people employed decreased 1,747 over the month to 5,065,649 and increased 4,027 over the year. The number of people unemployed increased 109 over the month to 197,114 and increased 9,135 over the year.                                                                              

Seasonally adjusted Total Nonfarm employment, as gathered through the monthly establishment survey, increased 15,000 to 5,042,000 in November. Major industries experiencing increases were Professional & Business Services, 6,700; Construction, 3,800; Education & Health Services, 3,400; Other Services, 2,600; Leisure & Hospitality Services, 900; Trade, Transportation & Utilities, 400; Government, 300; and Financial Activities, 200. Major industries experiencing decreases were Manufacturing, 3,000; and Information, 300. Mining & Logging employment remained unchanged. 

Seasonally Adjusted Unemployment Rates since November 2023

LAUREN TAYLOR: North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper commuted the death sentences of 15 men on his final day in office. All fifteen will still serve life sentences without the possibility of parole.

The commutations reduce the state’s death row, which has 121 others on it, by more than ten percent.

Cooper is leaving office after eight years due to term limits. Fellow Democrat Josh Stein, currently the state attorney general, will assume the office on New Year’s Day.

Cooper’s office said they reviewed petitions for clemency from 89 different people on death row before choosing to act on the fifteen cases.

In a press release, Cooper said, “These reviews are among the most difficult decisions a Governor can make and the death penalty is the most severe sentence that the state can impose. After thorough review, reflection, and prayer, I concluded that the death sentence imposed on these 15 people should be commuted, while ensuring they will spend the rest of their lives in prison.”

It’s a smaller set of commutations than President Joe Biden issued earlier this month for federal death row inmates. The president commuted the sentences of 37 of the 40 men on death row to life sentences without the possibility of parole.

It’s a move that received major criticism from Republicans, with President-elect Donald Trump saying he thought the move made no sense.

Although North Carolina allows the death penalty, the state has not executed anyone since 2006 as lawsuits work their way through the legal system.

Cooper also issued two other commutations for people convicted of crimes that did not come with a death sentence, as well as two pardons for people who have already served their sentences.

For Straight Arrow News, I’m Lauren Taylor.

And for all the latest updates on this and other top stories, download the Straight Arrow News app or visit SAN.com.

Over the weekend, minor flooding and rain destroyed roughly 20 makeshift roads and bridges erected as temporary solutions in Boone and Newland after Helene wiped out whole infrastructural systems, according to relief group WNC Strong’s comments to a local news outlet.

As temperatures are expected to drop below freezing in the region, nearly 700 families are still living outside in tents in the hard-hit area. Benjamin Vanhok said nobody has helped the 15 families his organization has identified that are “completely displaced.”

“It’s not over,” the WNC Strong representative said. “It’s only going get worse before it gets better.”

With the weekend flooding, some residents in the rural area are completely stranded from accessing the emergency services and are completely reliant on grassroots efforts to receive vital supplies.

“They’re stranded again and they will be stranded for the next week until this cold snap passes,” Vanhok noted. “With military-style trucks, they can get across and get them out, but them taking their own cars, they can’t.”

Avery County Manager Phillip Barrier, who represents the city of Newland, warned that more than 20 residents in the county are unreachable by first responders after nearly a dozen emergency footbridges built by volunteers after Helene washed away over the weekend.

“There are several people that we can’t get emergency access to,” he told NBC News during an interview, noting that recovery efforts have “been super slow.”

Likewise, residents in Yancey County, another community devastated by Helene, said Monday that “the need for a bridge or a safe road does not seem to be a priority,” noting the dearth of infrastructure has left “close to 75 families stranded.”

“It seems this community has been overlooked,” one Yancey County resident wrote in a Facebook post. “… My son and his wife are expecting a baby, and have to go in and out with the worry of getting stuck, or with the fear of the bridge being underwater, like it is now. My mother-in-law is on oxygen and luckily was able to make it to the hospital a couple of weeks ago by ambulance.”

Bridges for Avery, the volunteer group that constructed many of the makeshift bridges for residents, is back at work building new infrastructure for those affected.

“For many, these footbridges are the only way home,” according to the organization.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Bridges for Avery and WNC Strong are just two of the countless private grassroots efforts that emerged as the primary source of help for North Carolina residents after Helene struck.

“These small towns in the heart of Appalachia is what made the area so special,” WNC Strong posted on Instagram. “We exist to help rebuild the region in multiple ways. Right now we’re seeking more local businesses we can partner with to bring back to life economically.”