The Winston-Salem metropolitan statistical area — consisting of Davidson, Davie, Forsyth, Stokes and Yadkin counties — has a 4.4% unemployment rate, up from 4.3% in April.
Meanwhile, the Greensboro-High Point metro of Guilford, Randolph and Rockingham counties was at 5.1%, up from 4.9% in April.
The Winston-Salem metro had a month-over-month net gain of about 1,800 jobs, while Greensboro-High Point had a net gain of 1,000 jobs.
Of the nine private-sector employment groups in the Winston-Salem area, leisure and hospitality had the largest net gain of 1,200 jobs, followed by 800 in education and health services and 300 in trade, transportation and utilities.
There was a net loss of 700 jobs in professional and business services.
Most economists prefer taking a year-over-year approach to reviewing economic trends, although the daily economic uncertainty of the pandemic makes that kind of comparison more challenging.
For example, the Winston-Salem MSA is up 21,500 jobs comparing May 2020 with May 2021.
The sector continuing to feel the biggest impact is leisure and hospitality with a 7,100 increase, along with 5,600 in trade, transportation and utilities, 2,900 in professional and business services, 2,600 in manufacturing, 2,400 in education and health services, and 1,100 in other services.
