December Unemployment Figures Out
Preliminary numbers from the Georgia Labor Department show that Stephens County ended the year with a slight uptick in unemployment.
According to numbers released Thursday, Stephens County had a preliminary unemployment rate of 5.8 percent in December.
That is up two-tenths of a percentage point from November’s 5.6 percent and one-tenth of a percentage point from the December 2015 rate of 5.7 percent.
Stephens County’s labor force in December was 11,082, up slightly from November’s 11,068 and well above the December 2015 labor force of 10,645.
In December, 10,438 people in Stephens County were employed, down slightly from 10,445 in November but up from December 2015, when 10,040 people were employed.
Overall, the Georgia Mountains region that includes Stephens County had a preliminary unemployment rate in December of 4.5 percent, up two-tenths of a percentage point from November and one-tenth of a percentage point from December 2015.
State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said the numbers behind that regional rate increase do show some positive signs.
“The good news is we saw 650 people actually gain employment in the month of December as opposed to the month of November, but that was balanced out by the fact that 1,200 new individuals came into the workforce in the month of December,” said Butler.
According to Butler, the half of those 1,200 looking for work is the biggest reason for the increase in the unemployment rate.
Butler also said there was an increase of about 20 percent in initial unemployment claims across the region from November, but those initial claims figures are down from the year before.
Looking at other area counties, Franklin County’s preliminary December unemployment rate rose three-tenths of a percentage point to 5.3 percent; Habersham County saw its preliminary December unemployment rate move up three-tenths of a percentage point to 5.2 percent; and Banks County’s preliminary unemployment rate went up two-tenths of a percentage point in December to 4.5 percent.