Business & Tech

Douglasville Jobless Rate Hits 12.4%

But unemployment for all of Douglas County declined to 10.8 percent in October.

Douglasville’s unemployment rate bucked the trend around metro Atlanta and across Georgia by increasing in October, according to preliminary figures from the Georgia Department of Labor.

The city’s jobless rate rose to 12.4 percent from and 11.5 percent in October 2010.

Meanwhile, the rate for all of Douglas County fell to 10.8 percent in October from 11 percent in September, matching the 10.8 percent rate of October 2010. The local numbers are not adjusted for seasonal factors.

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By contrast, the metro Atlanta unemployment rate for October rate was 9.9 percent, down from 10.2 percent in September and in October 2010.

The unemployment rates for Douglasville and Douglas County remain higher than the seasonally adjusted state rate—10.2 percent in October, down from 10.3 percent in September and in October 2010—and the national rate—an even 9 percent in October, compared with 9.1 percent in September and 9.7 in October 2010.

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The featured speaker at Bank of North Georgia’s Economic Forecast 2012 breakfast on Tuesday at the suggested that Douglas County’s experience reflects the sluggish economy now and for years to come, the Marietta Daily Journal reported.

Albert Niemi Jr., the business dean at Southern Methodist University, predicted that the national unemployment rate will still be 9 percent at the end of 2012 because the economy isn’t producing jobs fast enough to overcome the growth in the labor force or to accommodate an estimated 12 million people who are underemployed or have given up even trying to find work, the said.

Douglasville’s numbers fit the picture Niemi drew.

The city added 211 jobs in the past year, according to the state Labor Department, but the civilian labor force of residents 16 and older grew by 386 to 14,926. The state’s estimates showed 69 more jobs in the past month but 99 more workers.

The whole county added an estimated 927 jobs from October 2010 to October 2011 while the labor force grew by 1,022 to 64,534 people.

Douglas County gained 302 jobs in October alone, the Labor Department said.

The Atlanta metro area of Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry and Rockdale counties added 13,900 jobs in October, the Labor Department estimated. Most of those jobs were in service-related industries such as professional and business services, trade, transportation, and warehousing, along with education and health services.

Statewide in October, Georgia added 26,500 jobs, up 0.7 percentage point to 3.82 million from 3.79 million in September. Early holiday-related hiring in retail, transportation and warehousing accounted for 12,200 of those new jobs.

October was the 51st consecutive month Georgia exceeded the national unemployment rate


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