Jobless rates up

ATLANTA - The unemployment rate is up in nine of the 13 counties in the Georgia Mountains region - including Hall.

Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond says in Hall County, the rate increased by only a tenth of a percent over the past month, to 3.4 percent.

However, the increase was much more dramatic in Lumpkin County where the jobless rate jumped almost 1.5 percent to 4.7 percent.

The biggest decrease in the area was in Barrow County, where the rate fell .7 of a percent to 3.7.