Vital signs.

The higher unemployment rate in May isn't such bad news, because almost 19,000 job seekers entered the labor force, Wells Fargo & Co. economist Mark Vitner says. "At least the rate went up for the right reasons, not because more people lost jobs."

Change from Latest Previous Previous last month month year year EMPLOYMENT Employed (000s) 4,397.6 4,387.4 4,315.6 1.9% Civilian labor force 4,698.5 4,679.5 4,706.8 (0.2) Manufacturing 442.0 444.2 442.3 (0.1) Service 3,496.9 3,489.5 3,424.1 2.1 Government 712.9 713.3 714.6 (0.2) Unemployed 300.9 292.1 391.2 (23.1) Avg. manufacturing workweek (hours) 43.2 43.6 41.3 4.6 Avg. hourly production wage $16.80 $16.72 $16.73 0.4 Change from Latest Previous Previous last month month year year TAXABLE RETAIL SALES (1) (millions) Alamance 162,587.6 159,982.0 142,853.1 13.8% Buncombe 320,279.3 322,979.4 288,752.6 10.9 Cabarrus 231,476.9 238,288.3 202,333.2 14.4 Catawba 153,844.1 163,585.1 146,744.0 4.8 Cumberland 296,120.6 318,929.6 292,053.7 1.4 Durham 513,364.0 498,843.3 437,531.1 17.3 Forsyth 357,203.2 364,642.1 338,911.3 5.4 Gaston 137,710.4 148,341.5 131,978.0 4.3 Guilford 518,908.1 528,236.2 493,290.3 5.2 Iredell 152,856.5 163,878.1 152,813.6 0.0 Mecklenburg 1,453,944.9 1,481,873.4 1,330,832.3 9.3 New Hanover 302,542.1 282,610.3 278,056.5 8.8 Onslow 150,827.3 168,788.7 152,540.0 (1.1) Pitt 153,509.0 161,604.3 155,026.5 (1.0) Wake 1,053,834.4 1,085,189.5 993,249.4 6.1 UNEMPLOYMENT RATE

N.C. STATE UNIVERSITY INDEX OF ECONOMIC INDICATORS

The index, a comparison of the state economy from month to month created by N.C. State economist Michael Walden, is calculated from the Economic Cycle Research Institute's Weekly Leading Index, North Carolina initial claims for unemployment benefits, North Carolina building permits and average weekly work hours and earnings for Tar Heel manufacturing workers. Raw data, which is seasonally adjusted, comes from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and U.S. Census Bureau.

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