Unemployment in Spalding County was up to 11 percent for the month of November.

According to the latest figures from the Georgia Department of Labor, the number of employed, the number of unemployed, and the number of those in the labor force all increased from October to November, resulting in an increase in the percentage of unemployed from 10.6 percent in October to 11 percent in November. There were 29,622 people in the labor force for November, with 26,367 employed and 3,255 unemployed, resulting in an 11 percent unemployment rate.

At 11 percent, Spalding County’s unemployment rate is above the national rate of 7.4 percent and the state rate of 8.3 percent as well as the regional rates of 8 percent for the Atlanta Metropolitan Statistical Area and 8.9 percent for the Three Rivers Regional Commission, both of which Spalding County is included in for statistical purposes. All of these rates are not seasonally adjusted and unlike Spalding’s rate are lower than the previous month.

Spalding County’s 11 percent unemployment rate is the highest in both the 10-county Three Rivers region and the 28-county Atlanta MSA. Statewide, the lowest unemployment rate in November was 5 percent in Oconee County, with the highest at 17.1 percent in Hancock and Chattahoochee counties.

While there is not an unemployment rate for the city of Griffin as the state only compiles rates for cities with at least 25,000 residents, Spalding County’s rate of 11 percent is higher than the rate of nearby cities, including Peachtree City, 6.3 percent; Newnan, 8 percent; and 10.1 percent in LaGrange and Stockbridge. It is lower than the unemployment rates of East Point, 12.4 percent; Dalton, 12 percent; and Statesboro, 11.5 percent.

In the Three Rivers region, the lowest unemployment rate was 7.2 percent in Coweta County, followed by 8.4 percent in Carroll County, 8.7 percent in Heard County, 9.1 percent in Pike County, 9.2 percent in Troup County, 9.8 percent in Meriwether County, 10.4 percent in Lamar County, 10.7 percent in Upson County, and 10.9 percent in Butts County.

Of the other contiguous counties, the lowest employment rate for November was 6.8 percent in Fayette County, followed by 8.5 percent in Henry County and 10.2 percent in Clayton County.