Nearly 200 fewer Floyd Countians were working in November, yet the county’s unemployment rate went down by 0.2 percent to 9.4. The dip can be attributed to a decline of more than 300 people in the local workforce.

The 9.4 percent rate is the lowest Floyd County’s jobless rate has been since February 2009, when the rate was 9.5 percent.

The Georgia Department of Labor monthly report indicates that Floyd’s jobless rate for November showed a decrease of 1.2 percent from November 2011.

Greater Rome Chamber of Commerce President Al Hodge said he accepts lower unemployment rates as good news.

“However, we would like to see a more robust workforce and for actual employment to grow,” the chamber president said. “It is good news that companies have been hiring and fewer have been laying off.

“We do have companies in the pipeline that we’re working with for either expansions or new companies coming in,” Hodge continued.

“Of course those are good numbers, but we are concerned about the workforce going down,” said Floyd County Commission Chairman Irwin Bagwell. “Until we see long-term numbers we can’t get our hopes up.”

Bagwell said that some things that happened in 2012 bode well for 2013. The chairman said that the Lowe’s distribution center being built on Ga. 53 at Ga. 140 will have a large number of employees on the payroll after the first of the year, and expansions at F&P Georgia Manufacturing and Neaton Rome, along with the Foss Manufacturing plant on Huffaker Road, will help the jobs picture.

Bagwell said the Foss facility would help Floyd County not only in terms of jobs but also in terms of an immediate infusion of property tax dollars after the company opted not to take a financing package from the Rome-Floyd Development Authority. That package would have included tax abatements.

The jobless rate across the 15-county Northwest Georgia region checked in at 8.4 percent for November, down from 8.7 percent in October and 9.4 percent in November of 2011.