Jobless rates rise for many of Georgia's metro areas

UNDATED - Last week state labor officials reported Georgia's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate declined in December for the third straight month, dropping to 9.7 percent. Thursday, those officials are pointing to elevated joblessness in many metro areas for the same time period.

For example, the preliminary unemployment rate in metro Atlanta rose to 9.4 percent in December. The Georgia Department of Labor said the new figure is up two-tenths of a percentage point from 9.2 percent in November. The jobless rate in metro Atlanta in December a year ago was 10.1 percent.

For metro Gainesville the jobless rate for December increased to 8.0 percent, up from 7.7 percent in November. A year ago, the jobless rate was 8.8 percent for the Gainesville area.

The Dalton area had the highest rate among Georgia's metro areas at 12.1 percent. The Athens and Warner Robins areas had the lowest area rates at 7.3 percent.

Labor officials say the rate increased in most areas because of layoffs in construction, manufacturing, retail trade, administrative and support services, and accommodations and food services.

The local area unemployment rates are not seasonally adjusted.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.