South Ga Unemployment Rate Rises

The Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL) reported today that the preliminary unadjusted unemployment rate in the Southern Georgia area rose to 12.3 percent in January, up 1.0 percentage point from a revised 11.3 percent in December. Meanwhile the number of unemployed workers in the area increased to 21,534, up 1,672 from 19,862 in December.

The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 10.4 percent in January, topping the previous record high of 10.3 percent reported in December. This marks the 28th consecutive month that Georgia has exceeded the national seasonally adjusted rate, which was 9.7 percent.

The state’s January jobless rate was up 2.0 percentage points from 8.4 percent at this same time last year. The jobless rate in the Southern Georgia area in January 2009 was 9.6 percent.

Local area unemployment rates are not seasonally adjusted. Georgia labor market data are available at www.dol.state.ga.us .