Local Unemployment Rates Dip Slightly in February

The unemployment rate in the Georgia Mountains area  was 5.5 percent in February, unchanged from January.

While the rate was unchanged State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler says that is still encouraging news.

“Even though the rate did not change, there is still some good news to be reported,” Butler said. “Initial claims are new claims for unemployment and we actually saw that number decrease by over 44% in the month of February. That means almost 1,400 people were laid off last month and that’s very good news.”

Most of the decrease in claims came in manufacturing, administrative and support services, and trade, transportation and warehousing.

Over the year, claims were also down by 26.5 percent, from February 2014. 

In Franklin County, the unemployment rate in February was 6.9 – down from 7.1 in January.  Franklin County’s total labor force in February stood at 9,014 – of that, 625 workers were on unemployment benefits.

In Hart County, the news is even better.

Hart County’s unemployment rate in February was 6.8 – down from 7.0 in January.  Hart County’s total labor force last month was 10,046 – of that, 681 workers were receiving unemployment benefits.

Meanwhile, Georgia’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate for February was 6.3 percent, down from 6.4 percent in January.