Douglasville Jobless Rate Falls to 11.7%

Employment improved in both and in November, although the jobless rate remains higher here than in the full Atlanta metro area, the state and the nation.

Douglasville’s unemployment rate declined to 11.7 percent in November from 12.1 percent in October and in November 2010, according to preliminary figures the Georgia Department of Labor released Thursday. The rate was .

The Labor Department also revised the October figures. It originally reported that ; instead, it dropped.

The number of Douglasville residents with jobs increased by 128 in November, according to the Labor Department figures.

For Douglas County as a whole, the unemployment rate fell to 10.2 percent in November from 10.8 percent a month earlier and 11.3 percent a year earlier. The countywide rate was 11 percent in September.

More than 560 additional Douglas County residents had jobs at the end of November than were working in October.

The local numbers are not adjusted for seasonal factors.

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The improvement in Douglas followed the wider trend for the metro area, state and nation.

For the official metro Atlanta area, the November rate was 9.2 percent, down from 9.9 percent in October and 10.2 percent in September and 10.3 percent in November 2010. That area covers Douglas, Barrow, Bartow, Butts, Carroll, Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, Dawson, DeKalb, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Haralson, Heard, Henry, Jasper, Lamar, Meriwether, Newton, Paulding, Pickens, Pike, Rockdale, Spalding and Walton counties.

In the smaller area covered by the Atlanta Regional Commission—Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry and Rockdale counties—the jobless pattern was the same: 9.1 percent in November, down from 9.8 percent a month earlier and 10.2 percent a year ago.

Douglas’ rate remains higher than the state rate—a seasonally adjusted 9.9 percent in November, down from 10.2 percent in October and 10.4 percent in November 2010—and the seasonally adjusted national rate of 8.6 percent in November. The national rate was 9 percent in October and was 9.8 percent in November 2010.

The Atlanta metro area added 13,300 jobs in November, the Labor Department said. Most of those jobs were in private service-related industries, including professional and business services, trade, transportation, warehousing, education, health care and financial services.