Wayne County, NC jobs, unemployment and layoffs
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Show me jobs near meWayne County economy
3.3%
unemployment, Sep 2026
3.9% the month before
48,433
in the labor force
Source: BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics
117,606
people in Wayne County
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
$58,082
median household income
Source: Census ACS
32%
of workers in white-collar occupations
Management, business, financial and professional; Census ACS
Wayne County outlook: Building
Built from public Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census figures. It describes the area, not any one employer in it.
- Private-sector jobs up 3.4% from 2022 to 2025
- Population up 3.8% from 2020 to 2025
- Unemployment 3.3%, down 0.6 points from a year ago
- Sectors adding the most jobs: construction (+523 jobs), health care (+509 jobs)
- Sectors losing the most jobs: transportation & warehousing (−318 jobs)
Local job-market news
Recent headlines about layoffs, AI and jobs in Wayne County. Each link goes to the publisher.
- Norfolk Southern reschedules New Bern crossing closure to 6 a.m. TuesdayWCTI on MSN · Oct 5, 2026
Learn and get funded in Wayne County
- Which AI skills each kind of job asks for, with the pay premium.
- Your local workforce board and American Job Centers: training vouchers and re-employment help.
- Grants and funding for job seekers, ranked for your state and situation.
- Unemployment benefits by state, if you are between jobs.
Wayne County layoffs
No layoff notices naming Wayne County in the last 12 months are on file. The WARN Act covers employers with 100 or more workers, so smaller layoffs are not in it.
Employers hiring most in Wayne County
Employers with the most open professional roles in this county’s cities. The county is taken from each job’s city, so roles with no city are not counted.
- Butterball15 open roles
- Rha Health Services3 open roles
- Mann+hummel2 open roles
- Atlantic Casualty Insurance1 open role
- Davita1 open role
- Defense Contract Management Agency1 open role
- Markham Mitchell Stroud PLLC1 open role
- Metronet1 open role
- Red Frog Solutions1 open role
- Select Genetics1 open role
Colleges in Wayne County
| College | City | Type | Students |
|---|---|---|---|
| University of Mount Olive | Mount Olive | Private non-profit 4-year | 1,000–4,999 |
Workforce development and job centers
The public workforce board and American Job Centers serving Wayne County. They offer free help with job search, training and filing for benefits.
Laid off in North Carolina? How to file for unemployment in North Carolina (steps, weekly amount and the appeal deadline).
- Eastern Carolina Workforce Development Board, Inc.
Carteret, Craven, Duplin, Greene, Jones, Lenoir, Onslow, Pamlico, Wayne
NCWorks Career Center- Wayne County
Goldsboro · Comprehensive · 919-988-6870
Monday- Friday 8:30 am - 4:30pm
Cities in Wayne County
Other North Carolina counties
Laid off or looking for work in Wayne County?
See what to do first and the jobs open near you.
See your options after a layoffSources: Census Bureau and BLS (county unemployment is not seasonally adjusted); layoff notices from North Carolina’s published record; job counts from our live job board; IPEDS for colleges; CareerOneStop for workforce boards and job centers. North Carolina unemployment benefits and severance rules.
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