The unemployment picture for Fayette County seems to be improving. If the figures for November due out in a couple of weeks look anything like those from October it will be a welcome sight. The October jobless rate in Fayette County fell by nearly half a point to 8.8 percent while Peachtree City saw unemployment drop from 8.4 percent to 7.9 percent.
The jobless rate in Fayette County for October came in at 8.8 percent, according to the Georgia Dept. of Labor. That figure represents a drop from 9.2 percent the previous month. The 8.8 percent jobless rate translates into 4,468 people out of work in a workforce that totals 50,781. Fayette’s unemployment rate one year earlier was 8.4 percent.
It was back in the summer that Fayette reached a rate of 9.3 percent, the highest unemployment numbers seen since at least 1990.
Jobless numbers for October looked even better in Peachtree City. The 8.4 percent rate in September decreased to 7.9 percent in October. Though certainly an improvement, neither figure comes close to the 7.2 percent rate a year ago.
Peachtree City has a workforce of 16,214 with 1,274 of those out of work.
Both Fayette and neighboring Coweta County are the only two counties in both the south and southwest portions of the 28-county Atlanta Metropolitan Statistical Area to see unemployment under 10 percent. Except for Cobb County, the handful of other counties in the Atlanta MSA are all located on the northeast side of the metro area.
The jobless situation also improved in the 10-county Atlanta Regional Commission area where the 10.2 percent rate in September decreased to 9.8 percent in October. That figures means that 210,640 people are out of work in a workforce of 2.139 million.
And across the state where unemployment dipped two-tenths of a percent to a rate of 10 percent, those recorded in the jobless figures totaled 472,764 in a workforce of 4.746 million.
But what about the rest of the story nationwide since state and national labor departments only count first-time filers?
Gallup tracks that rate for Oct. 25 at 18.3 percent. “Underemployed” respondents are employed part-time, but want to work full-time, or they are unemployed. “Unemployed” respondents are those within the underemployed group who are not employed, even for one hour a week, but are available and looking for work, according to www.gallup.com
