Politics & Government

Cherokee Unemployment Rises

But the county fared better than its counterparts in the Atlanta Regional Commission.

Nearly 500 additional Cherokee County residents joined the ranks of the unemployed from May to June, according to new figures from the Georgia Department of Labor.

In May, 8,928 people were unemployed. In June, that number rose to 9,426.

“The increase was caused primarily by two seasonal factors,” State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said in a news release. “There were layoffs among non-contract public school employees, such as bus drivers and janitorial workers, and an increase in the labor force, as students began looking for permanent or part-time jobs.”

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There were slivers of good news that came out of the latest job numbers:

  • At this point last year, Cherokee's unemployment rate was slightly higher: 9.0 percent in June 2010 compared to 8.7 percent in June 2011.
  • Of the 10 counties within the Atlanta Regional Commission, Cherokee has the lowest unemployment rate. Clayton has the highest at 13 percent. As a whole, the ARC's average came to 10.4 percent.
  • Cherokee's unemployment rate is lower than the state's (9.9 percent) and the nation's (9.2 percent).

For further analysis, open the PDFs on this page or click on the links in this story.

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