Newspaper Page Text
Initial unemployment
claims drop sharply
in Georgia
By Dave Williams
Bureau Chief
Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA - First-time un
employment claims in Geor
gia dropped significantly last
week, echoing a national
trend that has held for six
weeks running.
Jobless Georgians filed
22,240 initial claims last
week, down 2,382 from the
previous week, the state De
partment of Labor reported
Thursday.
The drop in claims came
as the labor department was
preparing to reimpose eligi
bility requirements for unem
ployment benefits the agency
waived during the coron-
avirns pandemic.
Starting June 27,
claimants must actively look
for a job during each week
they continue receiving ben
efits. They also must register
with EmployGeorgia, the
labor department’s reemploy
ment system, which will ask
them either to create a
searchable resume or upload
one to the site and submit
three work-search contacts
for each week they request
benefits.
“States across the nation
are reinstating work-search
mandates as emergency rides
are lifted and businesses re
open to the public,” Georgia
Commissioner of Labor
Mark Butler said Thursday.
“We adjusted many of our
regulations during the pan
demic to make receiving ben
efits easier during the crisis,
and now those modifications
are no longer necessary.”
Since COVID-19 first hit
Georgia in March of last
year, the state has paid out
more than $22 billion in state
and federal unemployment
benefits while processing
nearly 4.9 million claims,
more than during the decade
prior to the pandemic.
With cases of the virus
and resulting hospitalizations
down across Georgia, the
worst of the pandemic’s im
pact on the state’s economy
appears to be in the past.
“We are not seeing the
number of layoffs and tempo
rary shutdowns we experi
enced last year,” Butler said.
“But we will continue to
monitor the job market and
make any changes needed to
help get Georgians back into
the workplace.”
The resumption of work-
search mandates will coin
cide with a cutoff of the $300
weekly supplemental unem
ployment checks jobless
Georgians have been receiv
ing.
Gov. Brian Kemp has or
dered an end to those federal
checks following complaints
from businesses that they
can’t find enough out-of-
work Georgians willing to re
turn to the workforce.
Critics of the order say the
problem is not an unwilling
ness to work. Instead, they
say many of the available
jobs pay so little that the un
employed don’t want to take
them.
More than 238,000 jobs
are listed on EmployGeorgia.
Claimants receive access to
job listings, job search assis
tance, career counseling,
skills testing, job fair infor
mation, job training and spe
cial accommodations for
veterans and people with dis
abilities to transition back
into the workplace.
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Pickens County
Water & Sewer Authority
Annual Water Quality Report
2020 PWS - GA2270002
Philip Dean
Director of Utilities
Phone: 706-253-8718
Fax: 706-253-8720
A copy of the 2020 Pickens County Water
Quality Report is now available online at
www.pickenscountyga.gov or you may call
our office. We are located at 1266 East
Church Street, Suite 117, Jasper, GA 30143.
Like us on Facebook: Pickens County Water & Sewer Authority
Sign up for Code Red Alerts: http://pickenscountyga.gov
THURSDAY, JUNE 17, 2021 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 7A
Community Responds
Housing and jobs
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
We have reported numer
ous times about local oppo
sition to new residential
developments, particularly
apartments. Common con
cerns are traffic, congestion,
and loss of rural character.
However, we've also re
ported that employers are
struggling to find workers,
especially for entry level
jobs. We asked our Face-
book followers what they
think is the proper balance
for Pickens County. Here are
some of the responses:
Lynne Morris - Salaries
here do not match housing
prices. Low income, houses
too high.
Hugh Fannin - Pickens
does need more affordable
housing to bring in more
workers. At Cheshire Heat
ing & Air we need to fill
about six positions, but there
is a huge lack of workers
right now. Unfortunately, for
all of the original locals up
here there is no stopping
population increases. It
doesn’t matter if you love it
or hate it, growth is happen
ing right now. It would be
wise for the county to boost
up its infrastructure before it
gets harder to do so in the
future.
Kelly Wentworth - The
opposition to one particular
apartment development in
Jasper wasn’t location, but
density. Maybe some of
these projects could start
smaller instead of going at it
in an all-or-nothing manner.
And, if said developments
actually cared about the peo
ple they pretended to serve,
then they’d find a better way
to approach the community
than insulting the locals and
acting like we’re a bunch of
clueless and inhospitable
hicks.
people buy land and build or
buy a tiny house to put on it.
We don’t need neighbor
hoods full of low income
housing that become run
down and an eye sore, or
apartments. Plenty of land
around for sale. Tiny houses
would allow affordable
housing to be spread
throughout the county, not
clog up traffic in one area,
keep the rural atmosphere,
and provide patrons and
workers to our businesses.
Win win.
Heather Hall - What
happened to all the people
that used to work at those
jobs? They didn't just all up
and disappear. I don't think
having more housing will
provide more employees
necessarily, as I don't think
people are moving to Jasper
for jobs. Maybe once all the
free money stops coming in,
the workers will return.
Tammy Rebecca
Sanders - The housing isn't
for the low-income working
families anymore. The poor
middle class are being
pushed out.
Jeremy Surratt - I
moved to Jasper to get away
from the suburban, Canton
looking way of life. Seeing
these mass-produced house
neighborhoods stringing up
all over the highway really
bums me out. The traffic
once people move in is re
ally going to bum me out.
Robert Cantrell
Started in Woodstock then
Canton then Ball Ground
then Ellijay then Blue Ridge
and they said, “Ooops, we
forgot Jasper. Let's go and
mess life and traffic there.”
Welcome to Yankeeville.
Tim Cleveland - $10 an
hour, $350,000 starter
houses. I will never under
stand.
Matt Mayfield - We
need better jobs here in
Pickens County because a
lot of people who work here
have to live elsewhere be
cause they can’t afford hous
ing in our community.
Brenda Attaway Adams
- Is the county ready to ex
pand its public safety serv
ices? The addition of more
apartments will burden
fire/EMS/police. Multi-fam
ily residential will take a lot
of services and our property
taxes will skyrocket to cover
those costs.
Camille Vincent -1 think
we need more affordable
housing for the younger
adults. These houses that are
being built for $400,000 to
$500,000 is crazy, which I
know is being driven by the
housing market. If you don’t
have housing available that
is cheaper, then the entry
level jobs are going to be
harder to fill.
Kaitlyn Millsap - We
definitely need some sort of
housing to provide workers
and support the small busi
nesses in downtown. We
can’t deny that this side of
Jasper has historically had a
hard time keeping busi
nesses open, and more hous
ing will help areas that need
more workers and business.
Hjeffery Shumate - The
problem with Jasper, Ellijay,
Blue Ridge, there are no af
fordable housing for em
ployees who would be
working in some of the big
ger companies. [As] soon as
these counties start taking
care of the needs of people
having affordable places to
live while working and pay
ing taxes in the community.
People moving here from
other states buying up rental
houses try to charge people
$1,200 a month is B.S.
Kevin Chapman - You
will see a turnaround in
the work force about mid
July. People will be back
working for a living.
Mel Rey - Build it all
and get a tax base and stop
pillaging in the form of
property taxes.
Elizabeth Ann White-
head - There is always
going to be growth and
progression. If not then the
community will grow
older and die off and then
there will be nothing sup
porting it. Let’s provide
people an avenue to live
and work and get them off
drugs and alcohol so they
can be productive adults.
Lupe Sandoval
Allow tiny homes. Let
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