First time jobless claims are out for the Northwest Georgia region, and the numbers continue to show an increase. Here in Polk County, 540 people filed first time jobless claims. That’s up 10 percent from May’s number of 491. June’s number however is around 122% higher than a year earlier when June 2008 jobless numbers were 243. Polk was the third worst gainer behind Bartow County, which saw a 17% jump of first time unemployed from 1,069 in May to 1,251 last month. Floyd County takes the cake with a 42% increase in first time claims. June saw 1,453 people filing for unemployment for the first time, verses 1,024 in the previous month. Statewide, the Georgia Department of Labor says 88,756 laid-off workers filed first-time claims for state unemployment insurance benefits last month, an increase of 94.8 percent from June 2008. Most of the state initial claims were filed by laid-off workers in manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade, construction, and administrative and support services.
2009-07-13