Georgia’s unemployment rate increased by half a percent in June, but that was not the case for Newnan and Coweta County. Coweta’s jobless rate held steady at 9.7 percent last month, while Newnan saw a slight decrease to 11.1 percent.
Coweta’s 9.7 percent unemployment rate in May and June, while high, has the county in a better situation than many others in Georgia that saw increases during the one-month period. For Coweta, the 9.7 percent unemployment rate equates to 5,717 people out of work in a labor force of 58,753. Coweta’s unemployment rate in June 2009 was 10.7 percent.
Similarly in Newnan, the city saw a one-tenth percent decrease in the jobless rate, going from 11.2 percent in May to 11.1 percent in June. That figure compares to the 12.4 percent jobless rate a year ago.
Despite its high unemployment rate, figures from the Georgia Dept. of Labor indicate that, of Georgia’s larger cities, only Newnan and Duluth saw a decrease in unemployment in June.
Unemployment in the 10-county Three Rivers area saw a slight increase in the jobless rate in June. The May rate of 11.1 percent gave way to a jobless rate of 11.2 percent in June, representing 24,570 people out of work in a labor force of 219,572 people. Those numbers are far better than those of a year ago when the Three Rivers unemployment rate in June 2009 was 12.5 percent.
Statewide unemployment figures show that Georgia’s jobless rate increased in June to 10.3 percent, up from a revised rate of 9.8 percent in May. That number represents 482,758 people out of work.
And across the United States, the jobless rate also rose in June, with 9.6 percent of the workforce out of a job compared to 9.3 percent in May. That means 14.885 million people out of work.
But that is not the whole story. Official unemployment rates listed across America by states and the federal government do not account for those no longer looking for work and those who are underemployed by taking part-time jobs.
