Stephens Co. Unemployment Drops in August

Stephens County sees a drop in its unemployment rate in August.

According to figures released on Thursday by the Georgia Department of Labor, Stephens County had a preliminary unemployment rate for August of 5.9 percent.

That is seven-tenths of a percentage point lower than July’s revised rate of 6.6 percent and four-tenths of a percentage point lower than the August 2015 revised rate of 6.3 percent.

Stephens County had 10,150 employed in August, down from 10,260 in July, but up from 9,877 in August 2015.

As for the county’s labor force, it was 10,792 in August, down from 10,984 in July, but up from 10,546 in August 2015.

Meanwhile, the Georgia Mountains region had a 4.6 percent unemployment rate in August, down two-tenths of a percentage point from July and down four-tenths of a percentage point from August 2015.

Like Stephens County, the Georgia Mountains region saw its labor force and number of employed drop from July to August, though remain higher than the numbers for August 2015.

State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said that is not something to worry about.

“The reason why we saw those numbers jump out like that during the month of August is because all of those summer jobs that our young people had, whether they be in college or high school, they are gone and those young people are no longer in the workforce,” said Butler. “They are back in the classroom where we need them to be, to finish up their degrees or to get their diploma.”

Overall, Butler said he feels like the job market is doing well in the Georgia Mountains region.

“We actually saw a very good decrease in initial claims for the Georgia Mountains region, which signifies a good job market,” said Butler. “We saw initial claims decrease by over 40 percent for the month of August.”

Looking at other area counties, Franklin County’s preliminary August unemployment rate went down half a percentage point to 5.5 percent; Habersham County saw its preliminary August unemployment rate go down six-tenths of a percentage point to 5.0 percent; and Banks County’s preliminary August unemployment rate went down three-tenths of a percentage point to 4.9 percent.