The fiscal cliff notwithstanding, the unemployment rate in Georgia continues to edge downward, and Northeast Georgia’s jobless rate is no exception.
Preliminary figures released last week by the Georgia Department of Labor showed the state’s jobless rate for November at 8.5 percent, down two-tenths of a percent from October’s rate and down a full percentage from the November 2011 rate. In Northeast Georgia, the unemployment rate for November was 7.5 percent, down from 7.6 a month earlier.
“The (Northeast Georgia) rate declined because of fewer new layoffs, represented by first-time claims for unemployment insurance benefits,” declared a Department of Labor press release. “There were 291 fewer layoffs in construction, trade, information services, financial services, professional and technical services, administrative and support services, educational services, health care and social assistance, and accommodations and food services.”
Meanwhile, Jackson County’s jobless rate was pegged at 8.0 percent in November, down slightly from 8.1 in October.
The rates of other Northeast Georgia counties for November were:
•Barrow, 7.4 percent, down from 7.7 in October
•Banks, 6.0 percent, down from 6.2
•Athens-Clarke, 6.4 percent, down from 6.5
•Hall, 6.5 percent, down from 6.6
•Gwinnett, 7.1 percent, down from 7.3
•Franklin, 9.8 percent, down from 10
•Madison, 6.3 percent, up from 6.0
Meanwhile, Oconee County continued to have the state’s lowest unemployment rate at five percent, unchanged from November. Hancock County, even though its jobless rate fell from 23.3 percent in October to 17.1 percent in November, shares with Chattahoochee County the distinction of having the state’s highest unemployment rate.
