The unemployment rates in Fayette and Coweta counties hovered around the 5 percent mark in February while the rates in Peachtree City and Newnan remained largely unchanged from January’s numbers.
The jobless rate in Fayette County rose slightly to 4.9 percent in February compared to the 4.7 percent rate in January. There were 2,682 people out of work in Fayette where the workforce includes 55,035 people.
Coweta County’s unemployment rate in February was 5 percent, up slightly from the 4.9 percent rate in January. With a workforce of 68,150, Coweta had 3,412 people out of work in February.
The jobless rate in Peachtree City stood at 4.5 percent in January and 4.4 percent in February. Peachtree City has a workforce of 17,584, with 789 out of work.
In Newnan, the January unemployment rate was 5.8 percent, increasing slightly to 5.9 percent in February. Newnan has a workforce of 16,573, with 974 out of work.
The 10-county Atlanta Regional Commission area which includes Fayette had a 5.3 percent unemployment rate in February. That compares to the 5.1 percent rate in January.
The 10-county Three Rivers Commission area that includes Coweta saw a January rate of 6 percent that dropped to 5.8 percent in February.
Across Georgia, the January jobless rate of 5.4 percent rose slightly to 5.6 percent in February. The state has a workforce of 4.8 million with 270,606 people out of work.
Nationwide, the unemployment rate for January stood at 5.3 percent, dipping to 5.2 percent in February.
Unemployment rates provided by the Ga. Department of Labor do not tell the entire story of jobless rates. Such a measure includes underemployment provided by organizations such as gallup.com.
Gallup’s measure of underemployment in March was 14.5 percent, also down slightly from February (14.7 percent) but in line with the rates since April 2015. Gallup’s U.S. underemployment rate combines the percentage of adults in the workforce who are unemployed (6 percent) with those who are working part time but desire full-time work (8.5 percent), gallup.com said.
Underemployment rates were much higher from 2010 through June 2014 than they have been since that time. The current underemployment rate of 14.5 percent is the lowest Gallup has measured in any March over the past seven years according to gallup.com.
