The unemployment rate in Fayette County in August saw its first decline in at least a year. The rate dropped from 8.8 percent in July to 8.5 percent in August. Peachtree City saw a similar slight decline from 8 percent to 7.8 percent during the same period.

The drop to 8.5 percent in Fayette’s unemployment rate compares to the 5.6 percent rate in August 2008. The current numbers represent 4,403 people without a job in a workforce of 51,522.

In Peachtree City, which is tracked by Ga. Dept. of Labor, the preliminary figures of 7.8 percent for August amount to 1,288 people without employment out of a workforce of 16,463. Peachtree City registered a rate of only 5.1 percent in August 2008.

The 10-county Atlanta Regional Commission area also saw a slight decline for the one-month period, with 10.4 percent unemployment July and 10.2 percent in August. That rate translates into 217,613 jobless in a workforce of 2,128,461.

Looking further out, unemployment in the 28-county Atlanta Metropolitan Statistical Area saw a decline in unemployment from 10.6 percent in July to 10.4 percent in August. Fayette and Coweta were two of a handful of counties that registered less than 10.2 percent unemployment

And statewide the rate also dropped, with figures showing 10.2 percent of people without jobs in August compared to 10.5 percent in July.

The situation nationwide also improved somewhat in the past month. Figures for August not seasonally adjusted showed a rate of 9.6 percent compared to 9.7 in July.

login to post comments