Unemployment Up Since December

Unemployment numbers released by the hold bad news for almost the entire state, including Bartow County.

Bartow County’s preliminary unemployment rate for January is 12.5 percent, up from a revised 11.6 percent in December and down from a revised 12.7 percent in January of last year.

The preliminary unadjusted unemployment rate in northwest Georgia rose to 11.4 percent in January, up five-tenths of a percentage point from a revised 10.9 percent in December, State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said in a press release. The jobless rate in northwest Georgia in January 2010 was also 11.4 percent.

Increases are due to layoffs in manufacturing, retail trade, and administrative and support services.

Unemployment rates increased in all areas of the state in January except in metro Warner Robins, where the rate remained steady. Of the 25 local areas, metro Warner Robins had the lowest January jobless rate at 7.8 percent, while the highest rate was in metro Dalton at 13.0 percent.

Layoffs in manufacturing, construction, and administrative and support services are to blame for the preliminary unadjusted unemployment rate in the metro Atlanta area increasing to 10.4 percent in January. It’s up three-tenths of a percentage point from a revised 10.1 percent in December and the jobless rate in the metro Atlanta area in January 2010 was 10.7 percent.

Georgia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for January was 10.4 percent in January, once again hitting the state’s all-time high. The state’s jobless rate was also 10.4 percent in January 2010.

January marked the 40th consecutive month that Georgia has exceeded the national unemployment rate, which is currently 9.0 percent.