North Carolina's unemployment rate is higher than the national average, coming in at 7 percent for the month of October.

That's close to the September figures, which were 6.9 percent. As far as state officials are concerned, that is pretty much a wash.

They consider the unemployment rate in North Carolina to be static and say there are some bright spots in the numbers once you start to break them down.

“One thing that kept North Carolina's employment as static as it is right now is the Christmas tree industry,” said David Clegg, the Deputy Chairman of the N.C. Employment Security Commission. “The tree industry is hiring a lot of folks in the western part of the state right now.”

Clegg said it's a diverse mix of agricultural, industrial and high tech jobs in North Carolina that will help this state whether the economic recession is better than other states.

“Systemic unemployment is not the case in North Carolina,” he maintained.

However, the numbers out of people unemployed are significant.

“About 320,000 people in this state are actively seeking work,” he said.

And some of those folks looking for work are turning to day labor, once an exclusive blue-collar purview.

“I've actually had two stockbrokers, a travel agent and nurses apply," said Michelle Walker of the Raleigh branch of Labor Ready, a day labor firm. 

And these days, there are more applicants than there are jobs available.

“I've got one job with labor ready last week and I did not get anything this week,” said Sidney Hartley who is looking for work.

Despite the job loses in North Carolina, people are being hired. State figures indicate close to 5,000 people found work last month.

Those figures also indicate the average worker collects unemployment benefits for about 14 weeks in this state.

“That is much, much lower than the national average," said Clegg.

And, because of that, Clegg said the state's unemployment trust fund still has quite a lot of money in it.

At the moment, he said, there’s $400 million still in that fund which can be used to pay unemployment benefits in North Carolina.