The recent closing of a Beaulieu of America carpet plant added to Dalton, Ga.'s overall job losses.America's Carpet Capital continued to suffer job losses last month from the sluggish housing market.
Unemployment in Dalton, Ga., where most U.S. carpet is made rose in December by three-tenths of a percent to 12.1 percent. The number of Dalton area workers on the job fell by 300 from the previous month and was down by 500 jobs from the same time a year ago.
Dalton continued to have the highest jobless rate of any of Georgia's 14 metropolitan areas last month. The Georgia Department of Labor said most of Dalton's job losses were in service-related industries, manufacturing and administrative and support services.
The U.S . jobless rate fell last month to 8.5 percent and Georgia's unemployment rate fell to 9.7 percent last month. The state rate declined because 11,500 Georgians went back to work in December, the Labor Department said in a statement today.