RALEIGH (AP) — North Carolina’s jobless rate improved in October and is at 4.1%, the state Commerce Department said on Friday, as the overall number of people employed kept growing.

The seasonally adjusted rate compares to a revised September rate of 4.3%.

The number of people employed in the state grew in October by 11,000 to well over 4.82 million, the department’s news release said.

Seasonally adjusted total nonfarm employment, calculated separately through monthly worksite surveys, actually rose by over 31,000 workers to 4.55 million. Jobs filled in the leisure and hospitality services industry surged by 12,800 to 473,500, according to survey data.

The September rate had been calculated last month at 4.2%, but the slight uptick with the revised rate means an 11-month streak of falling rates has ended.

Still, North Carolina hasn’t logged a rising monthly unemployment rate since September 2020. The rate reached as high as 13.5% during the peak of COVID-19 lockdown and commerce restrictions in spring 2020.

The national unemployment rate for October was 4.6%