Unemployment Drops in Athens Metro Area

The preliminary unemployment rate in metro Athens declined to 6.4 percent in September, down from a revised 6.8 percent in August, the Georgia Department of Labor announced in a news release.

The rate was 7.6 percent in September 2011.

The Labor Department attributes the decline to fewer layoffs in manufacturing, construction, and retail trade, and to the employment of an additional 2,164 people.

Metro Athens continued to have the lowest area jobless rate at 6.4 percent, while metro Dalton had the highest at 11.2 percent. Georgia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate declined to 9.0 percent in September, down  from 9.2 percent in August.

In metro Athens, the number of jobs increased to 86,600 in September, up by 1,000 from August, and up by 2,600 from 84,000 in September 2011, the news release said.

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

Have you found a job in the Athens area recently? How did you do it? Tell us in the comments.

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