ATLANTA – The Georgia Department of Labor announced today that the unemployment rate in the Georgia Mountains region in December was 5.5 percent, unchanged from November. The rate in December 2013 was 5.9 percent.
While the rate was unchanged in December, there were 3,275 new claims for unemployment insurance filed, an increase of 1,730, or 112 percent, from 1,545 in November. Most of the increase in claims was because of seasonal temporary layoffs in manufacturing and construction, administrative and support services, and accommodations and food services. Over the year, claims were down by 787, or 19.4 percent, from 4,062 filed in December 2013.

Metro Athens had the lowest area jobless rate at 4.9 percent, while the Heart of Georgia-Altamaha region had the highest at 8.8 percent.
Meanwhile, Georgia’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate for December was 6.9 percent, down from 7.2 percent in November. It was 7.4 percent in December 2013.

A national leader in job growth for the past two years, Georgia has been in the top 10 states for job creation every month since October 2012. That trend continued in December as the state added 108,200 new jobs, for a 2.7 percent growth rate since December 2013. That pushed the state’s job total to 4,196,400, the highest level since 4,202,100 in December 2007.

Local area unemployment data are not seasonally adjusted. Georgia labor market data are available at www.gdol.ga.gov Connect with us on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter @GeorgiaDOL, which can be easily accessed via our website at www.gdol.ga.gov.