The unemployment rate in Coweta County crept back up in January to just under 10 percent while the jobless rate in the Three Rivers Commission area jumped to close to 12 percent. Newnan’s unemployment rate in January fell slightly to 11.3 percent.
The 9.6 percent unemployment rate that Coweta saw in December just could not hold in own in January. That rate climbed a third of a percentage point to 9.9 percent in January, according to figures released late last week by the Georgia Dept. of Labor. That figure translates into 5,872 people without work in a county workforce of 59,381.
By comparison, the high unemployment rate was even higher this time last year when 10.8 percent of Coweta workers were without jobs.
The jobless rate in Newnan improved slightly in January. The 11.4 percent unemployment rate in December gave way to an 11.3 percent rate in January. That compares to a 12 percent rate a year ago.
Across the 10-county Three Rivers area the jobless situation worsened significantly during January. What had been a high unemployment rate of 11.1 percent in December came in at 11.8 percent in January. That figure represents 26,164 people out of work in a workforce of 221,594.
The Three Rivers jobless rate in January 2010 was 12.3 percent.
Georgia, too, saw an increase in unemployment numbers in January. The 10.2 percent rate in December rose to 10.5 percent in January. And though lower than the 10.7 percent rate a year ago, the January figures still represent nearly a half-million people out of work.
