Cherokee County's Unemployment Rate Rises to 6.3 Percent

Cherokee County's unemployment rate rose by three tenths of a percent to 6.3 percent in October, but that rate was much lower than the metro Atlanta average of 7.7 percent.

Oconee County recorded the lowest unemployment rate of counties in the Atlanta-Athens area, with much larger Forsyth County more than 1 percent higher yet still below 6 percent.

Oconee, with its labor force just under 20,000, had a 4.7 percent unemployment rate according to preliminary October figures released Thanksgiving day by the GA Department of Labor.

Forsyth's 5.8 percent unemployment rate was for a labor force just under 94,000.

The 8.5 percent unemployment rate for DeKalb County (368,370 in labor force) was joined by Fulton County's 8.4 percent (460,474) and Douglas County at 8.1 percent (68,195).

                  Oct.    Sept.   2012

Barrow      6.9     6.8       7.9

Bartow      7.6     7.5       8.7

Cherokee   6.3     6.0       6.8

Clarke        6.3     6.1       6.7

DeKalb       8.5     7.9       9.1

Douglas     8.1     7.7       8.8

Forsyth     5.8     5.7        6.4

Fulton       8.4      8.2       9.3

Gwinnett   6.9      6.6       7.5

Oconee      4.7       4.4       5.1

Paulding    7.0      6.8       8.2

Walton      7.0      6.9       8.0