More jobs, more Rome residents working in September

The Floyd County labor force grew by 214 in September, which is particularly good news when coupled with a 0.6% decrease in the overall unemployment rate for the month. It’s not unusual for a decline in the unemployment rate to be linked to a decline in the workforce, but in September, the number of potential workers in Rome and Floyd County actually increased.

The Georgia Department of Labor reported Thursday that Rome and Floyd County added 1,000 jobs to locallybased payrolls as compared to a year ago. At the same time the unemployment rate dipped to 3.3%. One year ago, the jobless rate in Rome was an even 4%.

The new report indicates 42,400 jobs were reported on payrolls in Floyd County. Those jobs are not necessarily worked by Floyd County residents.

At the same time, 42,883 Floyd County residents were working somewhere across the region. That number increased by 460 over the month and was up by 700 when compared to the same time a year ago.

The Floyd County unemployment rate in September was actually less than both the national rate, both at 3.5%, for September. The state’s all-time low is 3.4% set in 2000.

The unemployment rate for the entire 15-county Northwest Georgia region was an even 3% for September, down from 3.6% in August. The DOL reports that 4,481 more residents of the region were employed in September

than August.

Unemployment checked in at 2.8% in Gordon and Walker counties in September, 2.9% in Bartow, 3.1% in Polk, 3.4% in Chattooga and 3.5% in Whitfield County.

Oconee County was lowest in the state at 2.1% and Telfair County was highest at an even 10%.