ATLANTA — The Georgia Department of Labor reported that the preliminary unadjusted unemployment rate in the metro Savannah area was unchanged at 8.3 percent from September to October.
Meanwhile, the number of unemployed workers in the area increased by 123, from 14,548 in September to 14,671 in October.
Unemployment in the coastal region was at 8.6 for October. Effingham County’s preliminary October jobless rate was at 7.9 percent, up from September’s revised figure of 7.8 percent.
Effingham’s unemployment rate for October 2008 was 5.5 percent.
In October 2008, there were 10,872 jobless workers in Savannah, when the unemployment rate was 6.1 percent. The number of payroll jobs in metro Savannah in October 2009 was 153,900, a loss of 5,000, or 3.2 percent, from 158,900 in October 2008.
Statewide, the number of payroll jobs in October was 3,858,800, a decrease of 227,700 or 5.6 percent, from 4,086,500 in October 2008. The over-the-year losses came in manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade, professional and business services, and construction. Educational and health services added 13,200 jobs over the year.
Also, from September to October, a total of 5,200 jobs were added in retail trade, public and private education, and health care. The state’s labor force decreased 139,015, or 2.9 percent, from 4,859,703 in October 2008 to 4,720,688 in October 2009.
Meanwhile, the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose slightly to 10.2 percent in October, up one-tenth of a percentage point from a revised 10.1 percent in September. The October jobless rate was up 3.3 percentage points from 6.9 percent at this same time last year.
Georgia’s unemployment rate matched the national rate of 10.2 percent for the first time in two years.
Since October 2007, when a jobless rate of 4.8 percent was recorded by both the state and the nation, Georgia’s rate has exceeded the national rate.
The local area unemployment rates are not seasonally adjusted. Georgia labor market data are available at www.dol.state.ga.us.
