The Georgia Department of Labor reported today that the preliminary unadjusted unem-ployment rate in the northwest Georgia area rose to 11.6 percent in January, up seven-tenths of one percentage point from a revised 10.9 percent in December. Meanwhile the number of unemployed workers in the area increased to 47,032, up 2,754 from 44,278 in December.

The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 10.4 percent in January, top-ping the previous record high of 10.3 percent reported in December. This marks the 28th consecutive month that Georgia has exceeded the national seasonally adjusted rate, which was 9.7 percent.

The state’s January jobless rate was up 2.0 percentage points from 8.4 percent at this same time last year. The jobless rate in the Northwest Georgia area in January 2009 was 9.8 percent.