Jobs report tileUnemployment fell in metropolitan Dalton, Ga., last month to its lowest level in nearly eight years, although the jobless rate in the Carpet Capital remained above the state and national averages in September.
The Georgia Department of Labor said today that 6.1 percent of the workforce in the Dalton area was out of work during September, down from the 6.3 percent jobless rate in August. The rate in September 2014 was 7.9 percent.
Over the past year, metro Dalton gained 1,200 jobs, a growth rate of 1.8 percent, from 67,300 in September 2014. Most of the job growth came in manufacturing, along with trade, transportation and warehousing and professional and business services.
Metro Dalton incudes Whitfield and Murray counties in Northwest Georgia and the metro area's unemployment rate has fallen by more than half from the 14 percent peak rate in the region reached n March 2009.
Georgia's statewide seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate for September was 5.8 percent, unchanged from August, and the U.S. jobless rate last month was 5.1 percent, also unchanged from the previous month.
Across the Peach State, metro Gainesville had the lowest area jobless rate at 4.7 percent, while the Heart of Georgia-Altamaha region had the highest at 7.5 percent.