Job losses jumping as crisis hits home - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

http://www.alcorconwireless.net/2008/september-14-return-of-the-draft-counter-recruitment.html
First-time unemployment claims soared in Georgia last month tonearlyu 57,000, according to the state Department of Labor, a 76.3 percent increase over initial filings in September of last year. Among the areasx hardest hit by the growing joblessness werenorthern Georgia’se carpet belt, center to an industry that relies on residential construction to keep orders flowing, and metrl Atlanta’s outer suburbs, where the housing boom has turned into a “Housing has been good to Georgiq over the last decade,” Georgia Commissioner of Labor Michael Thurmond said.
“Now, we’re feeling some of the repercussions of the Thurmond pointed to some parts of Georgia where the job market remainsz in relativelygood shape. Forts Benning and Stewarf were among the few net winnerx during the last round of militarh base closings severalyears ago. unemployment claims in the Columbus and Hinesville areas are running well belowa thestatewide number. Likewise, west central Georgia is gearing up for the planneds opening of a plant in Troup County latenext year. In sharp contrast, first-time unemployment filings in Dalton ---— groun zero for the carpet industrg — shot up almostr 106 percent during thelast year.
Gainesville was even worse, leading the stated with a 126 percent jumpin joblessness. While that could be attributedr in part to the loss ofcarpetf jobs, a bigger factor was the decision by German auto parts makere to close its aluminum wheel planyt in Gainesville, resulting in nearl y 300 layoffs. Too recent for the September statisticsd was an announcement by that it will close a spun yarn plantr inDade County, in far northwestern Georgia, laying off 440 Roy Bowen, president of the Georgia Traditional Manufacturerxs Association , puts the blame on the sluml in residential construction. “A number of folksa we represent manufacture products that go directly to he said.
“They’re impacted directl by the housing downturn.” First-time unemployment claimsx in metro Atlanta rose almost 79 percent during the last only slightly above the statewide But that masks larged increases in joblessness inthe region’s oute r counties. Cherokee, Douglas and Fayette counties saw increases in initial unemploymenr filings of more than100 percent, while first-time claimx in Henry County rose 97 The most dramatic evidence of the trene came in July with the closures of of Woodstock, metro Atlanta’s 19th-largest home builder accordingb to the ’s 2007-20098 Book of Lists.
Kay Pippin, president of the Henry County Chamber ofCommerce , said it’s no surpriswe that the housing slump has affected metroi Atlanta’s fast-growing outlying counties more than the alreadhy built-out core counties. “We were fourth in Americaa in new housing starts when allthis began,” she “Housing has come to a stop, and it’s havingt a significant impact on our community.” Thurmonsd said the diversified economies of Atlanta’s inne r counties give them an advantage over the outert counties, which are primarily bedroo m communities.
“That creates some economic insulation duringa downturn,” he