Downtown Dalton, Ga.Unemployment in the Dalton, Ga., area fell for the fourth consecutive month in December to match the 6-year low reached last April.
But the 8.2 percent jobless rate in metropolitan Dalton last month was still the highest of any metro area in the state and well above both the U.S. unemployment rate of 5.6 percent and the Georgia statewide rate of 6.9 percent during December.
The Georgia Department of Labor said today that Dalton ended 2014 with a gain of only 300 jobs over the level of a year earlier. Dalton's 0.5 percent employment gain in the 12-month period was only a fraction of Georgia's overall 2.7 percent job growth during 2014.
Dalton's employment total of 63,900 jobs was unchanged from November to December. The 0.1 percent decline in the jobless rate from November came from a drop in the number of workers seeking jobs, not an increase in the number of employed persons.
Dalton area workers filed 3,795 new claims for unemployment insurance in December, an increase of 2,670, or 237.3 percent, from November. Most of the increase in claims was because of seasonal temporary layoffs in manufacturing, administrative and support services, transportation and warehousing, and health care and social assistance.
Over the year, jobless claims in Dalton were down by 488, or 11.4 percent, from 4,283 filed in December 2013.
Across Georgia, metro Athens had the lowest area jobless rate in December at 4.9 percent.
Metropolitan Dalton includes both Whitfield and Murray counties in Northwest Georgia.
Although Dalton's unemployment rate was above average, neighboring counties to the north in the Northwest Georgia portion of metropolitan Chattanooga had lower jobless rates in December.
Unemployment fell last month to 4.8 percent in Catoosa County, to 5.1 percent in Dade County and to 5.9 percent in Walker County.