What had been significant improvements in the unemployment rate in recent months for Coweta and Fayette counties took a turn in the wrong direction in December with unemployment rates increasing half a percentage point.
Fayette County in November saw an increasingly low unemployment rate of 6.8. But December’s numbers reported earlier this week by the Ga. Dept. of Labor showed the rate jumping nearly half a point to 7.2 percent. That translates into 3,907 people out of work in a workforce of nearly 54,000. Fayette in December 2011 had a jobless rate of 7.9 percent.
Coweta County in December shared a similar fate. Having seen declining jobless numbers in recent months, Coweta’s December rate climbed to 7.8 percent, up from 7.2 percent in November but still better than the 8.4 percent rate a year ago. Coweta’s December rate represents 5,009 people out of work in a workforce that totals 64,403.
The unemployment situation in the largest cities in both counties also saw an upward climb in December. The worst case was in Newnan, where the 7.9 rate in November turned into a rate of 8.9 percent in December. Though a significant one-month increase, the December rate is much preferable to the 9.4 percent rate a year ago.
And in Peachtree City, The December jobless rate of 6.6 percent was up nearly a half-point from the 6.2 percent rate in November. All things considered, the December figures are still better than the 6.9 percent unemployment rate seen a year ago.
The 10-county Three Rivers Commission area that includes Coweta County saw a jump in jobless numbers in December to 9.3 percent. That compares to the 8.9 rate in November and a 9.9 percent rate in December 2011.
Similarly, the 10-county Atlanta Regional Commission area that includes Fayette County saw the jobless rate rise to 8.4 percent in December.
The November rate was 8 percent while the December 2011 rate was 8.9 percent.
And across Georgia, the jobless picture in December mirrored those seen more locally. The state’s November unemployment stood at 8.3 percent but in December it climbed to 8.8 percent.
