U, Danville jobless rates rise in November

Among cities with more than 100,000 people, the unemployment rate dropped in all except Aurora, where it was flat at 5.8 percent. “And over the year the outlook is better still as we saw the Columbus area experience an nearly 2 percent job growth, which equates to having 2,300 more jobs today than we did this same time last year”.

The rate declined as employers created 600 jobs in November, due largely to holiday hiring.

The national jobless rate is 5.0 percent. Most of the increase came in manufacturing and administrative and support services. Over the past year, metro Atlanta has added 86,500 jobs – representing 93 percent of the jobs added in Georgia.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate in the Coastal Georgia region – which includes Bryan County – also dropped to its lowest point since 2008.

The Georgia Department of Labor announced today that the unemployment rate in the Northwest Georgia region in November was 5.2 percent, down four-tenths of a percentage point from 5.6 percent in October. Unemployment for the Peoria area was 7.2-percent last month.

Out of all Chicago-area counties, Grundy showed the most increase in its unemployment rate from October to November, growing from 5.3 percent to 5.7 percent. A lot of the improve came in construction. The highest was 7.7 percent in Danville.

Industries that saw job growth in the majority of metro areas were transportation, warehousing, public utilities, leisure and hospitality, education and health services.

At the same time, the number of first-time claims for unemployment insurance, an indicator of layoffs, were up.

That figure was down from 6.5 percent in October and compares to 7.2 percent in November a year ago.