Submitted by the Georgia Department of Labor
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The Georgia Department of Labor said Thursday that the preliminary unemployment rate in metro Dalton (Whitfield and Murray counties) declined to 11.6 percent in August, down from 12.1 percent in July. The rate was 12.4 percent in August 2011.
The rate decreased because there were 690 fewer layoffs in manufacturing, construction, retail trade, professional and technical services, and administrative and support services. Also, the metro labor force declined by 432, partially because some students left summer jobs to return to school.
The number of jobs increased to 61,400 in August, up by 400 from July, but down by 3,300 from 64,700 in August 2011.
Metro Athens continued to have the lowest area jobless rate in the state at 6.7 percent, while the Heart of Georgia-Altamaha Regional Commission had the highest at 12.2 percent.
Georgia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 9.2 percent in August, unchanged from July. The jobless rate was 9.9 percent in August a year ago.
The number of jobs in the state rose by 25,100, or six-tenths of a percentage point, from 3,914,100 in July to 3,939,200 in August. Georgia has created 49,700 jobs since August 2011 when there were 3,889,500 jobs.
Local area unemployment data are not seasonally adjusted. Georgia labor market data are available at www.dol.state.ga.us.
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