February Unemployment Figures Released for Stephens Co.

February figures bring good news on the unemployment front for Stephens County.

According to numbers released last week by the Georgia Department of Labor, Stephens County’s preliminary unemployment rate in February dropped to 8.6 percent. It is down nine-tenths of a percentage point from the revised January rate of 9.5 percent.

State labor department figures for February also show that 52 more people were employed in Stephens County in February than in January, while the number of unemployed dropped by 120. The labor force did decrease slightly in February in Stephens County, coming in at 13,121.

Meanwhile, this February’s preliminary unemployment rate is also a full percentage point lower than the revised February 2012 rate of 9.6 percent.

However, 77 fewer people were employed this February than in February 2012 and the labor force in February 2012 was larger, coming it at over 13,300.

The Georgia Mountains region, which includes Stephens County, had a preliminary unemployment rate in February of 7.5 percent, down from January’s revised rate of 8 percent.

Elsewhere around the region in February, Franklin County’s preliminary unemployment rate dropped nine-tenths of a percentage point to 10.3 percent; Habersham County’s preliminary unemployment rate dropped nine-tenths of a percentage point as well to 8.7 percent; and Banks County’s preliminary unemployment rate dropped four-tenths of a percentage point to 6.6 percent.