Newnan and Coweta County may have turned the corner on escalating unemployment rates. The county jobless rate in March dropped to 10.8 percent, while in Newnan the rate fell to 11.8 percent.
In Coweta, the March unemployment rate dropped to 10.8 percent from the 11.2 percent figure in February. Coweta’s unemployment rate was 8.5 percent a year ago. The lower unemployment rate translates into 6,471 people without jobs in a workforce of 59,737.
While still high, Newnan saw a significant decrease in unemployment last month. The 12.5 percent jobless rate in February fell to 11.8 percent in March. Those figures represent 1,582 people out of work in a city that has a workforce of 13,375. Newnan’s unemployment rate in March 2009 was 9.8 percent.
Also dropping last month were unemployment rates in the 10-county Three Rivers Regional Commission area. The 12.5 percent rate in February gave way to a rate of 12.1 percent in March, indicating that 26,928 people are without work. The rate in March 2009 was 10.3 percent.
Next door in Fayette County the March unemployment rate dropped to 9 percent compared to the 9.3 percent rate in February. Fayette’s unemployment rate in March 2009 was 7.3 percent.
Peachtree City’s jobless rate in March fell slightly to 7.9 percent compared to the 8 percent rate in February. Peachtree City’s unemployment in March 2009 stood at 6.5 percent.
Douglasville in March saw a slight decrease in the jobless rate. The city showed a rate of 12.1 percent, down from 12.2 percent in February. Douglasville’s unemployment rate in March 2009 was 10.7 percent.
Jobless rates across the 28-county Atlanta Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) decreased in March to 10.4 percent, compared to the 10.7 percent rate in February. DOL numbers show 277,953 people unemployed out of a workforce of 2.667 million.
Statewide the unemployment rate rose again in March, with February’s 10.5 percent rate replaced with a rate of 10.6 percent. That figure represents 497,500 people out of work in a labor force of 4.711 million.
And across the United States, the unemployment rate for March decreased to 10.2 percent, down from 10.4 percent in February. Those numbers represent 15.678 million people unemployed in a workforce of 153.7 million.
Unemployment numbers do not reflect the individuals that are underemployed or those who have stopped looking for work.
