Fayette County’s unemployment rate bucked the trend in Peachtree City and the region — but in the wrong direction — according to the latest Georgia Department of Labor figures for October. But Fayette is still among the seven Atlanta metro counties to have a jobless rate of under the national average of 9.6 percent.
The numbers showed a rise in Fayette County’s jobless rate to 8 percent, a small decrease in Peachtree City’s jobless rate and a similar small decrease across the 10-county Atlanta Regional Commission.
Fayette County’s jobless figures for October showed a slight increase from September, with DOL reporting an unemployment rate of 8 percent compared to the 7.9 percent rate in September. Both figures showed a significant improvement from October 2009 when the rate was 8.7 percent.
The October rate translates into 4,011 Fayette residents out of work in a workforce of 50,359.
And tracking Georgia’s most populous cities, DOL reported the October unemployment rate in Peachtree City at 6.9 percent. The number compares to the 7.2 percent jobless rate in September and a rate of 7.8 percent a year ago.
Peachtree City in October had 1,110 people out of work in a city workforce of 16,109, according to DOL.
Unemployment in the 10-county Atlanta Regional Commission improved a bit in October, registering a 9.6 percent jobless rate compared to 9.9 percent in September and 10.1 percent a year ago.
The ARC area had 202,194 people out of work in October in a workforce of 2.1 million.
Unemployment in the broader 28-county Atlanta Metropolitan Statistical Area decreased to 9.7 percent in October, down from 9.9 percent a month earlier and 10.3 percent a year ago.
At 8 percent unemployment, Fayette is one of a handful of counties in the Atlanta MSA with jobless rates below 9.6 percent, according to DOL. The other counties below that threshold include Coweta, Cobb, Gwinnett, Cherokee, Pickens and Forsyth.
The jobless rate statewide improved slightly in October. The unemployment rate last month decreased to 9.6 percent compared to the 9.9 percent rate in September. That figure represents nearly 450,000 people out of work in a workforce of 4.65 million.
And across the United States the jobless rate remained at 9.6 percent in October. That number represents nearly 15 million Americans out of work in a workforce of more than 153 million.
