Community Corner
Unemployment Rates Fall in Oconee and Metro Athens Area
The Georgia Department of Labor says the Athens area added 600 jobs in July, and posted the lowest unemployment rate, at 7.9 percent across the state. The unemployment rate in Oconee County fell to 6.2 percent.
Unemployment rates for July fell slightly in Oconee County and the surrounding metro Athens area, state labor officials said Thursday.
In Oconee County, unemployment dropped from 6.6 percent in June to 6.2 percent in July, or from 1,208 claims down to 1,174, according to a preliminary report from the Georgia Department of Labor.
The unemployment rate in metro Athens (which includes unemployment statistics from Clarke, Madison, Oconee and Oglethorpe counties), fell from 8.3 percent in June to 7.9 percent, according to the labor report.
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The unemployment rate fell in the Athens metro area because 600 jobs were added mostly in service-related industries. There were also fewer layoffs in health care, social assistance and the construction industry, according to the labor department.
Athens and Warner Robins reported the lowest unemployment rates in the state, while the highest, at 12.8 percent, was in the Heart of Georgia-Altamaha area near Dublin.
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Across the state, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 10.1 percent in July from 9.9 percent in June. The state’s jobless rate was 10.1 percent in July 2010.
Georgia's unemployment rate has remained above the national unemployment rate, currently at 9.1 percent, for 48 consecutive months.