The same substantial increase was recorded in all other West Georgia counties and across the state, with some county unemployment rates increasing more than one percentage point.
On the positive side, the Carroll County rate was down 1.3 percent from last June, when it was 11.7 percent.
“Basically, this is what happens every summer, when high school, technical school and university students end their school year and enter the labor market,” said Sam Hall, spokesman for the Georgia Department of Labor. “The last time we saw a spike in unemployment rates of this size was last year from May to June. It’s primarily seasonal in nature.”
Hall noted that state and national jobless rates are seasonally adjusted to account for such influences and don’t show that large an increase.
“A better comparison is to look at the difference from last June to this June,” he said.
“We have a larger number of people employed than we did last year,” said Dr. Joey Smith, assistant professor of economics at University of West Georgia. “All total, the West Georgia region had 3,500 new workers entering the labor force.”
So, overall, Smith said the recent numbers are not really bad news.
“It’s actually pretty good news,” he said. “We’re not in as bad a shape as the increase in unemployment rate, from month to month, would indicate.”
He said all the students coming into the labor force only have to be looking for a job during the last four weeks to be considered unemployed.
According to the latest Georgia Department of Labor report, Carroll County had a labor force in June of 52,914, with 47,415 employed and 5,499 looking for jobs, resulting in a 10.4 jobless rate. This compares with a 9.7 percent rate in May and and a 11.7 percent rate last June.
The jobless rate for the 10-county Three Rivers region, which includes Carroll County, rose 1.2 percent, from 9.4 percent in May to 10.6 percent in June. However, it was down from 11.2 percent last June.
The regional rate increased because 2,673 new job seekers entered the labor force, but were unable to find work, pushing the unemployment up 2,930, the Department of Labor reported.
Georgia’s seasonally adjusted rate climbed only 0.1 percent, from 8.9 percent in May to 9.0 percent in June.
The U.S. seasonally adjusted rate remained at 8.2 percent from May to June.
Metro Athens and metro Gainesville had the lowest jobless rates at 7.5 percent, while metro Dalton had the highest at 12.3 percent.
Here are the jobless rates for other nearby counties:
• Coweta, 9.0 percent in June, compared to 8.1 percent in May, and 9.2 percent last June;
• Douglas, 9.8 percent in June, compared to 9.0 percent in May, and 10.8 percent last June;
• Haralson, 10.4 percent in June, compared to 9.6 percent in May, and 11.3 percent last June;
• Heard, 11.3 percent in June, compared to 9.5 percent in May, and 11.6 percent last June;
• Paulding, 8.7 percent in June, compared to 8.3 percent in May, and 10.1 percent last June.
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