NC unemployment rate now at 11 percent

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - North Carolina's unemployment rate rose slightly to 11 percent in October, a fraction off its historic peak earlier this year and the ninth straight month in double digits.

The state's Employment Security Commission on Friday reported the jobless rate continued to hover around 11 percent, as it has for nearly all of this year. September's rate was 10.8 percent.

The state's unemployment rate in October 2008 was 7 percent.

North Carolina's unemployment rate has been worse than the national average for more than a year and that continued in October, when the U.S. figure was 10.2 percent.

Construction suffered the greatest losses, shedding about 6,600 North Carolina jobs in October. Education, health services and government jobs saw the greatest employment growth.