New figures released Thursday by the Georgia Dept. of Labor (DOL) show Coweta County’s unemployment rate up more than a percentage point in the past month. November’s 9.7 percent unemployment rate rose significantly to a rate of 10.8 percent in December.

The new December rate of 10.8 percent represents 6,337 people unemployment in a workforce of 58,741. That is 654 more people without a job in a period of one month. Reviewing the jobless rate for the past year the numbers show December’s 10.8 percent rate in contrast to the rate of just 7.3 percent one year ago.

DOL figures for Newnan showed another significant increase in the number of people out of work. Newnan’s rate in November was 11.3 percent while in December that rate rose to 12.5 percent. Newnan’s total workforce is estimated at 12,968. Newnan’s unemployment rate one year ago stood at 8.9 percent.

The unemployment rate increase in the Three Rivers region was not as bad, with unemployment increasing .3 percent overall. Unemployment in the Three Rivers area came in at 11.9 percent for December, up from 11.6 percent in November. Those numbers represent a total of 26,288 people out of work. Just a year ago the Three Rivers unemployment rate stood at 8.8 percent.

None of theses rates include people who have stopped looking for a job.

The unemployment rate across the 28-county Atlanta metro area also moved north, with the November rate of 10 percent replaced with a December rate of 10.1 percent, representing 269,422 people out of work. Unemployment in the Atlanta Metropolitan Statistical Area a year ago was 7.6 percent.

And across Georgia, another 8,341 people lost their jobs in the past month. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in December was 10.3 percent compared to a 10.1 percent rate in November. The rate when not seasonally adjusted came in at 10 percent, up from 9.8 percent in November.

The United States, too, is clearly still in the grips of the worst recession in seven decades with unemployment figures at 10 percent.

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