Slowly but surely, the unemployment rate is falling in Georgia, and the rates in Jackson County and Northeast Georgia are doing the same.
According to the Georgia Department of Labor, the seasonally adjusted jobless rate for Georgia in April fell to 8.7 percent, down from 8.9 percent in March, the first time it’s been below nine percent in three years.
Statewide, the number of new jobs grew by 31,900, to 3,926,000, the highest number of jobs in Georgia since January of 2009. Job growth is up eight-tenths of a percentage point, from 3,894,100 in March. In April a year ago, there were 3,904,400 jobs.
The jobless rate for Northeast Georgia hit 8.0 percent, its lowest rate since December 2008.
Jackson County’s rate fell to 8.5 percent in April from 8.8 percent in March.
Other area counties and their unemployment rates for April are:
•Banks, 6.3 percent, down from 6.6 percent and second lowest to Oconee County in Georgia
•Barrow, 8.2 percent, compared to 8.6 percent in March
•Athens-Clarke, 6.7 percent, down from 7.0
•Hall County, 6.9, down from 7.2
•Madison, 6.7 percent, down from 7.1
Oconee County, where the rate fell to 5.5 percent in April, compared to 5.7 in March, continues to have the lowest jobless rate. Jenkins County, where the unemployment rate grew from 17.6 percent in March to 18.9 percent in April, had the highest jobless rate in Georgia.
