Unemployment drops in Dalton to second lowest monthly rate in a decade

Dalton has highest jobless rate among Georgia metro areas

Jobs and unemployment tile
Jobs and unemployment tile

The Dalton area continued to have the highest jobless rate among Georgia's 14 metropolitan areas last month, but the addition of 400 net new jobs last month still cut Dalton's jobless rate to its second lowest monthly rate in more than a decade.

The Georgia Department of Labor said today that unemployment in metropolitan Dalton dropped by two tenths of a percentage point to 5.3 percent - the lowest rate since last October when Dalton's unemployment rate dipped briefly to 5.1 percent.

Metro Dalton, which includes Whitfield and Murray counties and accounts for a majority of American carpet manufacturing production, has added a net 500 jobs over the past year and the number of employed persons in the area rose by 1,496 compared with 12 months earlier.

Initial claims for unemployment in Dalton also were down about 33 percent for the month and about 44 percent for the year.

"It's good to see such a strong report in March," Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said in a report today. "So many of our local communities are trending in the right direction in terms of job creation and hiring. And, we are even seeing records in many places."

Georgia's metro areas had unemployment rates that varied from a low of 3.3 percent in Gainesville to Dalton's 5.3 percent. All 14 trended lower in March.

In Northwest Georgia, unemployment was lowest in Catoosa County at 3.5 percent in March, down from 3.9 percent the previous month, The jobless rate in the region was highest in Murray County at 5.5 percent in March, down from 6.1 percent the previous month.

Statewide, Georgia's jobless rate in March was unchanged at 4.4 percent. The U.S. unemployment rate last month was also unchanged from the previous month at 4.1 percent.

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