RALEIGH, N.C. North Carolina’s unemployment rate is a fraction lower at 9.9 percent, sliding just out of the double-digit range for the first time since June.

The state Commerce Department said Tuesday that the jobless rate dropped in December for the third straight month. It was 10 percent in November.

North Carolina’s labor analysis division says the number of people on unemployment rolls fell by nearly 5,200 while the number of those with jobs increased by 9,500 to more than four million.

The state’s unemployment rate is now almost down to the level where it stood a year ago. It was 9.8 percent in December 2010.

The state’s rate is still higher than the national average of 8.5 percent, which dropped in December from 8.7 percent in November.

Read more…