Unemployment Rate in Walton County Rises Again in June

Walton County's unemployment rate was at 7.7 percent in May and rose to 8.2 percent for the month of June, according to preliminary information released by the Georgia Department of Labor on Thursday, July 25.

 The county's rate is slightly lower than the Northeast Georgia region's rate, which increased to 8.4 percent in June, up eight-tenths of a percentage point, from 7.6 percent in May.

 Walton County's labor force was at 41,303 individuals in June, with 3,880 of those unemployed. At the same time last year, the unemployment rate was 9.0 with a labor force of 41,090, 37,398 of them employed and 3,692 unemployed.

According to the labor department, the rates increased primarily because of two seasonal factors: high numbers of education workers are unemployed during the summer and new graduates are considered unemployed until they find a job.