Georgia’s unemployment rate hit 7 percent in October, the highest rate since 1992, the state Labor Department said Thursday.
The October rate is up from 4.5 percent in the same month of 2007, and metro Atlanta has lost 44,800 jobs over the past 12 months, or 1.8 percent of the total, the report said.
The state’s unemployment rate has climbed steadily this year, with the increase accelerating this fall. The rate was 6.4 percent in September.
“Georgia’s economy is being slammed by a deteriorating job market,” Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond said.
The department said 343,093 unemployed Georgians are looking for work. Manufacturing, construction and retail are among the hardest hit sectors, the department said.
The Dalton area in north Georgia, where the job market is heavily dependent on flooring and other housing-related companies, has been the state’s hardest hit area, losing 3.7 percent of its jobs in the past year.
Macon, Athens and Gainesville have been the most stable area, posting job losses of .1 percent.
The unemployment report comes a day after Georgia State economist Rajeev Dhawan predicted the economy will struggle through 2009 before making a modest recovery in 2010.
Fresh Political Pickins From The Peach State
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I guess I can now pay less for labor since supply and demand work in human resources as well. Free Market forces for the win!
I get about an email a day from someone I know asking about casual work here….glad I’m a boss and not a grunt.
Yep. Workers are now a whole lot cheaper since things have gone south!
I had a couple of workers, of the latin persuasion, painting the other day for half the price someone quoted me last summer. (not to imply that they were illegal) None of the workers spoke English. When I paid the gentlemen at the end of the day, the one that spoke a little engish took out a couple of twenties and paid everyone else (maybe around $40 )
$40 for a whole day of work, sun up to sun down! Or at least untill my flood lights went off!
This is great! I think me and some of my wealthy friends are each going to build a Biltmore-style mansion now in Florida. I’ll get new lower cost workers to do the work and pay them practically nothing.
Some might shed a tear that someone would work 12 to 14 hours a day and not have enough money to buy a house, obtain healthcare or enjoy even a minimally decent standard of living, but not me! I’m too busy drinking scotch and evading taxes!
Bird,
I am horrified that you would not drink bourbon like a proper southern gentleman! Now if we can just get this damn daylight thing resolved, people could work 14 to 18 hours a day (by candle light!)
“Some might shed a tear that someone would work 12 to 14 hours a day and not have enough money to buy a house”
Um, if you can build a house cheaply, because the cost of labor is down, wouldn’t that make home ownership still attainable?
How much money you make is irrelevant, how much you can buy with what you make is what’s important.
you guys aren’t going to get it until your children and grandchildren end up working for third world wages…
If people are working for lower wages, doesn’t that lower the cost of everything making it more affordable for those on lower wages?
atlantaman,
We had a recent increse in the minimum wage. Unemployment is up. Suprised?
joe,
That has been a thought I have had as well. It is untested, but I would like someone to examine the consequences of raising the minimum wage on unemployment.
Unregulated Credit Default Swaps are causing the explosion in the unemployment rate. The potential liability is over $55 “T”rillion dollars and thanks to creative accountants, you didn’t hear about them til they rared up and bit ya…
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