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NC releases January unemployment rate

RALEIGH, N.C. — (AP) North Carolina's unemployment rate is returning to the headlines.

The state Commerce Department releases new jobless rate data for January on Monday.

The figures will show what happened after the unemployment rate dropped to 6.9 percent in December, its lowest level in more than five years. The North Carolina rate dropped from being tied for the third-highest unemployment in the country in July to near the middle of the pack.

Some economists say much of reason for the rapid fall in the jobless was related to thousands of discouraged people giving up on finding work.

The same trend of a shrinking labor force and declining unemployment rate has been noted nationally as well.