in the 13-county Georgia Mountains region is 3 percent, a decrease of one-tenth percent from a month ago.
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate in Georgia for September was 4.2 percent, a
decrease of one-tenth percent from 4.3 percent in August.
The Hall County rate is down two-tenths of a percent to 3 percent. Rates are also down in Barrow, Dawson, Habersham, Lumpkin, Towns, and Stephens counties. Jobless rates are up a bit in Banks, Rabun, and Union, and are unchanged in Forsyth, Jackson and White.
The state added about 7,200 seasonal jobs, mostly in state and local education and
retail trade. But, while the overall number of jobs grew, the state experienced
losses in September in manufacturing, information technology, financial activities,
and leisure and hospitality. Over the past 12 months, the state has a net gain of
30,400 jobs.
"While I'm encouraged by the increase in new jobs in Georgia, the rate of
increase remains somewhat slow," said State Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond.
"We still have nearly 200,000 unemployed workers and several companies have
announced plans to layoff about 3,000 more workers in the near future."
Thurmond said that to help meet
this challenge, many of these laid-off workers will need additional training or
retraining to return to work.
"The Georgia Department of Labor has an initiative called Georgia Works that allows job seekers to get on-site workplace training while continuing to receive unemployment benefits. It's working extremely well for both
job seekers and employers in that nearly 60 percent of those who complete Georgia
Works training are hired."
http://accesswdun.com/article/2004/10/148675