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March 10, 2010

Unemployment rate climbs again

Jamie Jones Dalton Daily Citizen

DALTON — Temporary jobs from the holiday shopping season left the area in January, pushing Metro Dalton’s unemployment rate to 13.1 percent, according to the state Department of Labor.

The unemployment rate in Metro Dalton (Murray and Whitfield counties) was up from 12.5 percent in December 2009. The jobless rate in Metro Dalton in January 2009 was 11.9 percent.

Retail jobs fell from 7,600 in December 2009 to 7,300 in January. Ralph Towler, labor market analyst with the Department of Labor’s Office of Workforce Information and Analysis, said the drop coincides with the normal increase in hiring for full- and part-time jobs for the busy shopping month of December.

“Seasonal factors including post-holiday layoffs played a significant role in local labor market conditions,” Towler said. “The combination of declining employment (minus 797) along with an increase in the number of unemployed residents (plus 350) resulted in an increase in the unemployment rate.”

The number of unemployed workers in January increased to 8,178 from 7,828 in December 2009. The jobless rate in Whitfield County was 13.1 percent in January, up from 12.6 percent the previous month. Murray County’s unemployment rate in January was 13 percent, an increase from 12.3 percent in December 2009.

Metro Dalton by far had the highest January unemployment rate among the 14 metro areas in Georgia. The second highest was Albany at 11.8 percent (five counties) followed by Rome at 10.9 percent (Floyd County), Atlanta at 10.8 percent (28 counties) and Columbus at 10.4 percent (four Georgia counties and one Alabama county).

The state’s unemployment rate of 10.4 percent in January topped the previous record high of 10.3 percent in December 2009. It marks the 28th straight month that Georgia has exceeded the national seasonally adjusted rate, which was 9.7 percent.

Whitfield isn’t the county with a high unemployment rate. Hancock County, about 25 miles northeast of Milledgeville, has a jobless rate of 23.5 percent.

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