Published Tuesday, December 01, 2009

Coweta's jobless rate 10.5% in October

The Newnan Times-Herald

Coweta County's unemployment rate in October was slightly higher than the state rate, as both the county and the state seem unable to shake the "double digit doldrums."

After two straight months at 10 percent, Coweta County's rate bumped up by another half of a percentage point in October, to 10.5 percent.

Coweta's unemployment rate has been in the double digits since early summer. The local unemployment rate was 10.7 percent in July, 11.3 percent in June, and 10.5 percent in May.

"In good times, our unemployment rate in Coweta County was more like 3.6 percent," said Peter Ludlow, manager of the Georgia Department of Labor's Newnan Career Center, at a recent event.

Coweta County is still better off than most surrounding counties. Only Fayette County is faring better, at 8.5 percent, and Fulton County has an unemployment rate equal to that of Coweta. Other surrounding counties include Carroll, 11.0 percent; Heard, 12.4; Troup, 12.6; Meriwether, 13.9; and Spalding, 14.7.

Coweta is also faring better than the region as a whole. The Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL) reported this week that the preliminary unadjusted unemployment rate in the Three Rivers area rose to 12.1 percent in October, up two-tenths of one percentage point from a revised 11.9 percent in September. Meanwhile, the number of unemployed workers in the area increased by 182, from 26,435 in September to 26,617 in October.

In October 2008, there were 17,452 jobless workers in the Three Rivers area, when the unemployment rate was 7.8 percent.

Statewide, the number of payroll jobs in October was 3,858,800, a decrease of 227,700 or 5.6 percent, from 4,086,500 in October of 2008. The over-the-year losses came in manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade, professional and business services, and construction. Educational and health services added 13,200 jobs over the year. Also, from September to October, a total of 5,200 jobs were added in retail trade, public and private education, and health care. The state's labor force decreased 139,015, or 2.9 percent, from 4,859,703 in October 2008 to 4,720,688 in October 2009.

Meanwhile, the state's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose slightly to 10.2 percent in October, up one-tenth of a percentage point from a revised 10.1 percent in September. The October jobless rate was up 3.3 percentage points from 6.9 percent at this same time last year. Georgia's unemployment rate matched the national rate of 10.2 percent for the first time in two years. Since October of 2007, when a jobless rate of 4.8 percent was recorded by both the state and the nation, Georgia's rate has exceeded the national rate.

The number of initial unemployment claims rose locally by 50 percent in October, to 1,031.

Lee Whetstone, chairman of the Newnan-Peachtree City Area Employer Committee, has suggested the possibility of holding a local job fair next March. He said he's optimistic that things are turning around.

"The staffing industry is starting to provide more employment," he said, which is usually an early sign that companies are ready to hire again. Whetstone is the local manager of FutureStaff.

Other local people aren't so optimistic.

"I'm recently unemployed after 35 years of continuous service working days, nights, holidays, sick, in the heat of summer, and in the freezing cold in winter. When you go to apply for a job knowing you can do it and they won't even take your application because you don't meet their criteria to the T, yes, it gets discouraging," said a poster named "Rick" on the Times-Herald Web site.