Unemployment rates in Fayette and Coweta counties shot up in November, with Fayette’s jobless rate climbing to 8.6 percent and Coweta’s rate to 9.6 percent. Similar increases were also seen in Peachtree City and Newnan and across the Atlanta Regional Commission and Three Rivers Commission areas.
The unemployment rate in both counties, and around the state, had shown a decrease in recent months, but those advances were cancelled out with the release earlier this week by the Georgia Dept. of Labor (DOL).
The jobless rate in Fayette County rose from 7.9 percent in October to 8.6 percent in November. Fayette’s unemployment rate in November 2009 was 8.1 percent.
Unemployment figures for Fayette translate into 4,378 people out of work in a workforce of 50,757.
The situation in Coweta County was similar, with an 8.6 percent jobless rate in October giving way to a 9.6 percent rate in November. In the throes of the recession a year ago Coweta’s jobless rate also sat at 9.6 percent.
Jobwise, the November figures represent 5,660 people out of work in a workforce of 58,840.
Unemployment in Peachtree City and Newnan essentially mirrored that of the countywide numbers.
The jobless rate in Peachtree City rose to 7.4 percent in November, up from 6.8 percent in October and 7.2 percent a year ago. The current rates represents 1,197 people out of work in a workforce of 16,208.
And next door in Newnan, the city saw its unemployment rate jump from 10.4 percent in October to 11.5 percent in November. The rate in November 2009 was 11 percent.
The November numbers for Newnan represent 1,536 people without work in a workforce of 13,130.
Unemployment in the 10-county Atlanta Regional Commission area also increased in November. October’s figure of 9.5 percent was replaced by a 10.2 percent rate last month. That compares to a November 2009 jobless rate of 9.8 percent.
The ARC jobless rate translates into 216,034 people out of work in an area workforce of 2.12 million.
And in the 10-county Three Rivers Commission area the were even worse, with a November jobless rate of 11.3 percent that was more than a percentage point higher than and 10.2 percent figure in October. The November 2009 unemployment rate was 11.5 percent.
The Three Rivers area has a workforce of 220,964, with 24,844 out of work in November.
Expanding statewide, jobless numbers rose to 10.1 percent in November, up from 9.8 percent in October and only marginally better than the 10.2 percent rate a year ago.
Georgia in November had 469,702 residents out of work in a workforce of 4.67 million.
And across the nation the number of jobless tracked by government sources totaled 9.8 percent, or 15.1 million, of the civilian workforce of 154 million. November’s figure represented an increase from the 9.6 percent rate in October and slightly better than the 10 percent rate a year ago.
But as usual with government-supplied statistics, the rest of the story of unemployment resides beyond the figures supplied in the monthly figures. 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.
