Coweta County's unemployment rate jumped a full point from 3.5 percent to 4.5 percent last month, but State Labor Commissioner Marti Fullerton knows the reason why.

"The rate was up as some workers in air transportation services were laid off due to the pilots' strike at Northwest Airlines. Most of these workers lived in Coweta County, where about 120 were furloughed," Fullerton said.

In the Chattahoochee-Flint region, the rate rose to 4.5 percent from 4.2 percent in August. Last September, the region's rate was 5 percent.

Fullerton said another reason for the rate increase was the rise in the labor force from 126,108 to 127, 167.

Other unemployment rates in the region included:

· Carroll, 4 percent; unchanged from August.

· Heard, 6.5 percent; up 1 percent from August.

· Meriwether, 5 percent, down .5 percent from August.