Metro Athens' Unemployment Rate Inches Upward

The Athens area's unemployment rate nudged up .1 percentage points in January, to 7.1 percent, according to prelimnary data the Georgia Department of Labor announced Thursday.

That's worse than the revised 7.0 percent in December, but better than January 2011's 7.9 percent rate and better than the rest of Georgia, the agency reported. Dalton's unemployment rate, 12.7 percent, was the state's highest.

Clarke County's unemployment rate for January was 7.3 percent; Oconee's was 5.9 percent. The Athens metro area comprises Clarke, Madison, Oconee, and Oglethorpe counties.

Athens' metro unemployment rate increased because there were layoffs in construction, manufacturing, retail trade, and administrative and support services, according to an agency press release.

Georgia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate declined for the sixth straight month to 9.2 percent in January, the lowest rate since March 2009. The jobless rate was 10.1 percent in January a year ago.

Statewide, the rate went down because about 13,000 more Georgians were employed in January than in December, the agency said. Newly revised numbers show that Georgia gained 83,700 jobs in the past 12 months -- the largest January to January job growth since 2006.

Among the sectors showing growth over the year, professional and businesses services gained 37,000 jobs, retail trade gained 15,100, health care and social assistance grew by 11,100, and manufacturing gained 7,300.