Fayette County residents have received a different type of Christmas present — a significant drop in the county’s unemployment rate to 6.3 percent.
Figures for October released by the Georgia Department of Labor (DOL) showed Fayette with a 6.3 percent unemployment rate. That compares to a 6.8 percent rate in September and 7.6 percent in August.
Fayette County in October had 3,301 people out of work in a workforce of 52,611.
Peachtree City in October also saw a sharp drop in the jobless rate. October numbers showed an unemployment rate of 5.8 percent. That compares to a rate of 6.8 percent in September and 7.6 percent in August.
DOL figures showed the 10-county Atlanta Regional Commission area, which includes Fayette, with an October unemployment rate of 7 percent, down three-tenths of a percentage point from the 7.3 percent rate in September. The ARC jobless rate in October 2013 was 7.7 percent.
The rate fell as Metro Atlanta added 18,800 jobs in October, according to DOL. The total number of jobs increased to 2,489,100, up from 2,470,300, or 0.8 percent, from September.
According to DOL, the increase represents 13 percent more jobs than the average September-to-October growth for the last three years. Much of the job gain came in trade, transportation and warehousing, which are the job sectors associated with holiday hiring, 9,100; professional and business services, 3,900; education and health services, 2,100; construction, 1,900; financial services, 1,300; and leisure and hospitality, 1,000.
DOL also reported an over-the-year gain of 57,800 jobs, or 2.4 percent, from 2,431,300 in October 2013. Those included 18,600 in trade, transportation and warehousing; 16,200 in professional and business services; 8,500 in leisure and hospitality; 5,200 in construction; 4,700 in financial services; 2,400 in manufacturing; 2,000 in government; and 1,500 in education and health services.
Metro Athens had the lowest area jobless rate at 5.4 percent, while the Heart of Georgia-Altamaha region had the highest at 9.3 percent.
Georgia’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate for October was 7.7 percent, down from 7.9 percent in September. It was 7.8 percent in October 2013.
Georgia added 33,800 new jobs in October and 96,000 since October 2013, pushing its job total to 4,166,400, the largest number since May of 2008.
