Unemployment rates increased in Hickory Metro counties and across most of the state of North Carolina according to the latest update. The information was released last week by the North Carolina Department of Commerce Labor & Economic Analysis Division. The report shows the unemployment rates for June.

Catawba County is listing an unemployment rate of 3.4 percent, up from 3.3 in May. The June jobless rate in Alexander County is 3.2 percent, an increase from 3 percent even in the last report. Burke County’s unemployment rate is 3.6 percent, up from 3.4 in May. Caldwell County’s jobless rate is 3.5 percent, up from 3.4.

The unemployment rate for the Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton Metropolitan Statistical Area or MSA is 3.5 percent, up from 3.3 in the May update. Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton has the 6th lowest unemployment rate among 15 MSAs in the state.

The statewide unemployment rate is 3.6 percent, up from 3.4 in the May report. Unemployment rates increased in 86 of North Carolina’s 100 counties, decreased in five, and remained unchanged in nine. Scotland County shows the highest unemployment rate at 6.4 percent and Swain County has the lowest at 2.7 percent.