October Unemployment Numbers Out for Stephens Co.

Preliminary October unemployment figures from the Georgia Department of Labor show a small drop in Stephens County’s unemployment rate when compared to September.

Stephens County had a preliminary October unemployment rate of 6 percent, one-tenth of a percentage point down from September’s revised rate of 6.1 percent and 1.2 percentage points down from October 2014’s revised rate of 7.2 percent.

The Labor Department said Stephens County had 9,999 people employed this October, slightly up from September’s 9,977, but down from October 2014, when 10,380 people were employed.

Also, while Stephens County’s labor force this October was 10,635 and was slightly up from September’s 10,623, this October’s labor force was down from last October, when the county had a labor force of 11,182.

Looking regionally, the Georgia Mountains region, which includes Stephens County, had a preliminary October unemployment rate of 4.9 percent, unchanged from September and down nine-tenths of a percentage point from October 2014.

State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said October figures showed encouraging news in the Georgia Mountains region when compared to September.

“Take a look, for example, at initial claims,” said Butler. “Initial claims were down over 15 percent in the month of October. Also, we saw over 1200 more people become employed in Georgia Mountains. However, there is a little caveat to all of that. The fact is we actually saw the labor force grow over 1200 in that same time period, which cancels out a lot of the gains. A lot of times when you look at the labor force growing, that has a lot more influence on the unemployment rate.”

Butler said an increase in the labor force is good because it means people are entering the workforce.