Jobless rates down or unchanged

GAINESVILLE - The jobless rates in each of the counties in the immediate Gainesville area are either down or unchanged from a month ago.

The Hall County rate is among those that are unchanged. It is 8.6 percent.

The state Department of Labor also reports that for the 13-county Georgia Mountains Region, which includes Gainesville, the rate is down three tenths of a percent to 8.8 percent.

Of the counties in the immediate Gainesville area - Hall, Gwinnett, Barrow, Jackson, Banks, Habersham, White, Lumpkin, Dawson and Forsyth - Gwinnett showed the smallest drop... down point-one percent; and, Habersham had the biggest decline. The unemployment rate there is down 1.6 percent to 8.4.