(AP) -- RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - North Carolina's unemployment rate isn't moving much even as thousands of people have dropped off payrolls and out of the job hunt.
The state Employment Security Commission said Friday that October's unemployment rate was 9.6 percent. That was a slight decline from September's jobless rate, which was recalculated to be 9.7 percent.
October was the first time since March 2008 that North Carolina's unemployment rate wasn't higher than the national average.
But the data show little improvement in the jobs picture in October. The number of unemployed fell by nearly 6,900, but the number of people holding jobs also fell by almost 5,300.
The state jobs agency said there were 427,000 people listed as unemployed in North Carolina in October.
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