Georgia jobless rate at record highs

PDF: Georgia March unemployment

Unemployment rose to record highs across North Georgia last month as the slowing economy continued to lead to layoffs and job cuts across the region.

The Georgia Department of Labor reported Thursday that the jobless rate in metro Dalton rose in March to 13.7 percent, up from 12.8 percent in February and more than double the 6.5 percent rate of a year ago. The jobless rate climbed in neighboring Chattooga County to 18 percent, and unemployment increased in Walker County to 13.3 percent, the department reported.

“These are the highest rates we’ve seen since the state began keeping such records in 1976,” Georgia Labor Department spokesman Sam Hall said.

In the past 12 months, Whitfield and Murray counties, which comprise metro Dalton, have lost a net 6,335 jobs, according to state figures. Dalton is the carpet-producing capital of the world, but carpet shipments have dropped by more than 30 percent over the past two years, according to the Carpet and Rug Institute.

“(The city of Dalton) is a net provider of jobs for the region, but it will be a while before this turns around,” Mayor David Pennington said. “We are doing all we can at the local level, but this is a state and national problem.”

Thursday’s jobless report comes before the latest employment casualty in Dalton — the closing of the 280-employee Pilgrim’s Pride plant — scheduled for June.

In Chattooga County, unemployment last month was second only to Jenkins County in east Georgia among the state’s 159 counties.

Chattooga County Sole Commissioner Jason Winters said the county’s jobless rate has remained above 10 percent for the past year and a half.

“We are a bedroom community, and what happens in Walker, Whitfield or Floyd counties affects us,” he said. “This is why economic development is so important to my county and the entire region.”

Statewide, Georgia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 9.2 percent in March, unchanged from a revised 9.2 percent in February. March was the first month in 20 months without an increase in Georgia’s seasonally adjusted jobless rate.