Oconee's Unemployment Rate Rises Slightly, Remains Lowest in State

At 6.5 percent, Oconee County's August unemployment rate remains below state and national averages. Oconee has posted the lowest jobless rate in Georgia every month in 2011, according to data released by the Georgia Department of Labor.

Though the lowest in the state, Oconee's jobless rate rose three-tenths of a percentage point from a revised .

The Georgia county with the highest unemployment rate last month was Hancock at 20.1 percent.

The northeast Georgia area jobless rate increased to 9.8 percent in August, unchanged from a revised 9.2 percent in July.

Georgia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was up one-tenth of a percentage point in August to 10.2 from a revised 10.1 percent in July. The national rate was unchanged in August at 9.1 percent.

As for some of Oconee's neighboring counties, the preliminary unadjusted unemployment rate for Clarke in August was 8.1 percent,  down one-tenth of a percentage point from July's revised rate.  Barrow posted 9.5 percent, a change from a revised 9.6 percent the previous month.  In Walton, the rate was 10.0 percent, down from 10.1 percent in July.