There is a mixed bag of news from Georgia’s Department of Labor.

There was a decrease of almost 3 percent in one year’s time, from October of 2008, to last month, in the number of claims filed for unemployment benefits. But, the average time that out-of-work Georgians drew unemployment benefits went up over the year -- a rise of 3 weeks -- now to an average time of 14-and-a-half weeks.

The GDOL also reports from September to October of this year, there was an uptick of about 6 percent in the number of claims applied-for.

State labor officials are co-sponsoring a pair of job fairs next Thursday—one in Dalton expects to draw 60 employers with job openings. The other a week from today is in Augusta with 45 employers on-hand.

Tags: Georgia, economy, Augusta, unemployment, Dalton, state Department of Labor, jobless benefits