In Atlanta and Statewide, Unemployment Tops Ten Percent
The holidays are a difficult time to be unemployed. There are gifts to buy, baking to do, and travels to make, none of which come cheap. For someone who has recently faced the loss of a job, or for those who have been searching for a new job for several months or even years, the strain of the holidays merely adds to the stress of making ends meet, paying bills on time, and avoiding bankruptcy and foreclosure. Yet many Georgia residents are now dealing with unemployment at the holidays: in November, the unemployment rate for metro Atlanta and the state as a whole both jumped above ten percent.
In November, approximately 20,500 metro Atlanta residents lost their jobs, bringing the total of are unemployed workers up to 273,218. This caused the metro’s unemployment rate to jump to 10.3 percent, up 0.7 percent from October’s 9.6 percent, according to recent reports by the Georgia Department of Labor.
Statewide reports do not paint a much better picture. Across Georgia, the unemployment rate rose to 10.1 percent in November. The 0.3 percent increase from October’s 9.8 percent was not as large as the jump in metro Atlanta, but any increase indicates that progress toward economic recovery and stability has yet to be a reality in a state which continually ranks among the top states in terms of foreclosure.
Recent legislation may provide some relief to unemployed Georgians, says State Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond. The state is currently processing extended benefit claims for unemployed residents, and the filing period for that extended benefit relief has been extended through December 31. “These additional resources will help qualified job seekers provide food, clothing and shelter while they seek employment,” Thurmond said. “I’m pleased that the approval came in time for the holidays.”
Source: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “Metro Atlanta unemployment jumps to 10.3 percent”, Larry Hartstein, 22 December 2010
