The falling unemployment rates seen in Fayette County in late 2011 didn’t last long. Fayette’s 8.6 percent jobless rate for December represents a half-point jump in the past month. Peachtree City also saw a half-point increase to 7.5 percent.
The 8.1 percent jobless rate in Fayette for November came in at 8.6 percent in December. And the December rate was just a bit lower than the 8.8 percent jobless rate in October.
The numbers for Fayette County represented 4,380 people out of work in a workforce that totals 51,180 people.
The unemployment situation in Peachtree City was better, but only in a way. While at a lower rate than that of Fayette County, the 7.5 percent jobless rate in Peachtree City in December represents a half-point increase over the 7 percent rate in November. Peachtree City has a workforce of 16,318, with 1,221 of those out of work.
Unemployment also saw a small increase across the 10-county Atlanta Regional Commission area during December. The 9.1 percent rate in November gave way to a rate of 9.3 percent in December.
The ARC has 199,824 people out of work in a workforce of 2.15 million.
Fayette and Coweta are the only counties in south or southwest metro Atlanta with an unemployment rate below 9.4 percent.
And across Georgia nearly half a million people are without work. The 9.2 percent jobless rate in November increased to 9.4 percent in December. Georgia has a labor force of 4.76 million.
Nationwide, the unemployment rate for December stood at 8.5 percent, down from 8.7 percent in November.
But what about the statistics never listed by state and federal labor departments? That would be the number of people underemployed. Measured by Gallup and defined as the percentage of workers who are unemployed combined with the percentage working part-time but wanting full-time work. Those numbers translate into 18.3 percent of the U.S. workforce.
