"I actually think it is all good news," says Dr. Walden, a specialist with the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service at N.C. State University. "Certainly it is good news that we added jobs. We’ve had major job growth. In fact, North Carolina may be on (track) this year to set a record pace in job growth.

"But the fact that unemployment is up and the unemployment rate is up is not necessarily bad news in this context," he adds. "It would be bad news if we were losing jobs, but I think the reason the unemployment rate and the number of unemployed is up is because the state is attracting people, number one, from the outside -- other states -- who are moving here.

Until they get jobs, they may be counted as unemployed," he adds. "It’s also causing people who had dropped out of the labor force to come back in. Again until they get a new job, they are going to be counted as unemployed.

"So you certainly can have both employment and unemployment go up at the same time, and they both can be for good reasons," he concludes.