RALEIGH -- The jobless rate ticked upward slightly last month from 7.5 to 7.6 percent. The Labor Department says employers actually added 175,000 jobs,.. N.C. State Economist Dr. Mike Walden says there's an explanation why the percent went up while more people found work.

“We have people who last month were not looking for work who are now looking for work,” says Walden.

“Now they have come into the labor force. They count as unemployed until they find work. That’s a little nuance of how that unemployment rate is counted. That’s why I don’t focus on that. I focus on whether are we are creating jobs or not.”

Walden says for now, there's still growth on both ends of the job market.

“We’re creating jobs primarily in the service sector,” says Walden. “What we’re missing is a lot of job gains in the middle," adds Walden.