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Local jobless rate at 9.3 percent |
2010-03-11 |
By Martha Barksdale |
Fayette County's unemployment rate jumped to an estimated 9.3 percent in January, more than two points above what it was this time last year and nearly a full point above the 8.5 percent recorded in December 2009.
According to the Georgia Department of Labor, about 4,700 Fayette residents were drawing unemployment benefits in January out of a work force of about 51,000.
Still, Fayette's jobs picture is brighter than the state's and the nation's, according to government figures released this week. Georgia's preliminary unemployment rate for January stands at 10.9 percent. In December, the state's unemployment rate was 10 percent and in January 2009, Georgia's unemployment rate was 8.7 percent.
The U.S. unemployment rate is 10.6 percent for January, up from December's 9.7 and January 2009's 8.5 percent.
Peachtree City's unemployment rate for January--8.2 percent--also was up from December's 7.5 and the 6 percent recorded in January 2009. Georgia compiles labor force statistics for cities with populations above 50,000.
Fayette's labor force is faring better than neighboring counties'. Newnan's unemployment rate was up to 12.3 percent, and Coweta County's was 10.9 percent for January. The unemployment rate in Clayton County is 12.9 percent for January, while Spalding County had a 15 percent rate of unemployment. The average unemployment rate for the Atlanta Metropolitan Statistical Area was 10.8 percent.
Hancock County, in the eastern central part of the state, had Georgia's highest rate of unemployment, 23.5 percent. Long County, near Fort Stewart and Savannah, had the state's lowest unemployment rate--7 percent.
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