Unemployment rates decreased across most of the Hickory Metro and the state according to the latest report, which was issued this week. The report was released by the North Carolina Department of Commerce Labor & Economic Analysis Division and it shows the September unemployment rates.

Catawba County’s unemployment rate is 3.1 percent, down from 3.4 in August. Alexander County was one of only two counties in the state to show an increase. The rate rose to 3.6 percent from 3.2 in Alexander. Burke County’s jobless rate fell to 3.1 percent from 3.5 in August. The Caldwell County unemployment rate is 3.2 percent, down from 3.5 in the last report.

The unemployment rate for the Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton Metropolitan Statistical Area or MSA is 3.2 percent, down from 3.4 percent in August. Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton is tied with the seventh lowest unemployment rate among 15 MSAs in the state.

The statewide unemployment rate is 3.2 percent, down from 3.6 in August. Jobless rates decreased in 98 of North Carolina’s 100 counties in September and increased in two. Scotland County has the highest unemployment rate at 5.6 percent while Swain and Buncombe Counties have the lowest at 2.5 percent.