Unemployment Up in January in Stephens Co.

Stephens County sees a jump in unemployment to start the New Year.

According to figures for January released this week by the Georgia Department of Labor, Stephens County had a preliminary unemployment rate for the month of January of 7.2 percent.

That represents a three-tenth of a percentage point jump from December’s revised rate of 6.9 percent.

This January’s unemployment rate was seven-tenths of a percentage point lower than the January 2014 revised rate of 7.9 percent.

Stephens County’s labor force this January of 10,850 was down from last January’s labor force of 11,076, but higher than December’s labor force of 10,774.

Meanwhile, the 10,070 employed in Stephens County in January is also down from January 2014, when 10,200 in Stephens County were employed.

This January’s number of employed in the county was up from December’s employed number of 10,034.

Looking at other area counties in January when compared to December, Franklin County saw its preliminary unemployment rate go up one-tenth of a percentage point to 7.2 percent; Habersham County’s preliminary unemployment rate for January was three-tenths of a percentage point higher at 6.5 percent; and Banks County also saw its preliminary January unemployment rate go up three-tenths of a percentage point to 6.1 percent.

Franklin, Habersham, and Banks counties all had lower unemployment rates this January than they did in January 2014.