Unemployment claims in Northwest Georgia continued to rise in January, with many counties in the area coming in at or above 10 percent.
The Georgia Labor Department issued its report on unemployment claims in January leaving many wondering when the joblosses will end.
The state’s seasonally adjusted jobless rate came in at a record 8.6 percent, the highest since the U.S. Department of Labor standardized the way unemployment rates were calculated across the states.
According to the Georgia Labor Department, 412,770 unemployed Georgians are looking for work, an increase of 62.9 percent over the year. Of that number, 183,829, or 44.5 percent, are receiving unemployment insurance benefits.
High jobless numbers have also translated into large numbers of consumer bankruptcy cases. Georgia ranked third in the nation with per capita bankruptcy filings.
According to the U.S. Bankruptcy Courts, there were 6.35 bankruptcy filings for every 1,000 residents of Georgia. Tennessee and Nevada topped out the list with 7.65 and 7.2 bankruptcy filings per 1,000 residents.
Court records showed that 1,074,225 personal bankruptcy cases were filed in 2008. That is the largest number of bankruptcy filings since Congress passed changes to bankruptcy law in 2005 limiting the debts that could be discharged and setting income limits for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protections.