Local Unemployment Rates Drop in February

Georgia Mountains region’s unemployment rate dropped to 7.5 percent in February.

That’s down from 8% in January and 8.4% a year ago.

The State Labor Department said the rate declined because there were fewer new layoffs, which were represented by initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits.

In Franklin County, the rate dropped almost a full percentage point to 10.3% from 11.2% in January.

Franklin County’s labor force last month was 9,872 – of that 1,013 were collecting unemployment benefits.

In Hart County, the unemployment rate dropped almost two full percentage points from 12.1% in January to 10.6% in February.

For the state overall, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in February dipped to 8.6 % –  the lowest rate since January 2009.

State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler is giving credit to the lower jobless rate to the state’s employers.

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And the number of first-time claims for unemployment insurance benefits, resulting from layoffs during the month, decreased by 32,834 from January – the lowest number of lay-offs since September 2007.

The number of long-term unemployed workers also dropped in February for the 10th consecutive month.