by: Summer Kelley
As Georgia continues the process of re-opening for business, the unemployment numbers from April, during the shelter in place Executive Order, are almost triple the numbers from March.
The Northwest Georgia Region saw a slight increase in March with unemployment at 4.4% for the region and 4.2% for the state. In April those numbers jumped to 12.9% of working adults in the region on unemployment and 11.9% for all of Georgia.
In Dade unemployment went from 3.9% in March to 7.7% in April. Dade County has a total of 7,592 working adults, according to the state, with 7,006 still employed in April and 586 unemployed. Year-to-date a total of $118,612 in unemployment benefits have been paid to Dade County workers, which is already nearly $2,000 higher than the $116,864 in benefits paid during all of 2019.
Dade currently has the lowest unemployment rate for the Northwest Georgia Region with Whitfield showing an increase from 4.9% in March to 20.6% in April. Walker had an increase from 4% to 10.9%, Chattooga 5.7% to 17.1%, and Catoosa 3.6% to 10%.
(Statistics and map from the Georgia Department of Labor)