Area Unemployment Rates Jump in June

Unemployment in both Stephens County and the Georgia Mountains region jumps in June.

According to figures released Thursday by the Georgia Department of Labor, Stephens County’s preliminary unemployment rate for the month of June was 10.9 percent. That is an increase of 1.2 percent from the revised May rate of 9.7 percent. This June’s rate is also one-tenth of a percent higher from the June 2010 rate of 10.8 percent.

Unemployment also rose around one percent in neighboring counties. Habersham County’s unemployment rate rose 1.2 percent as well to 10.5 percent, while Franklin County’s unemployment rate rose nine-tenths of a percent to 12 percent, and unemployment in Banks County rose by nine-tenths of a percent to 7.7 percent.

The unemployment rate for the Georgia Mountains region in June was 9.3 percent, nine-tenths of a percent higher than May.

State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said the increase was caused primarily by two seasonal factors. Those 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.