Athens-Clarke County
at the margin.

**State and Direction**

The Athens labor market is weakening. Total nonfarm employment stood at 105.5 thousand workers in December 2025, down from 105.8 thousand in October — a decline extending across two consecutive months. Year-over-year, employment fell 0.28% from 103.9 thousand in December 2023, meaning prior gains have stalled and begun to reverse. The unemployment rate at 3.0% in December dropped 0.7 percentage points from November, but followed a 0.6 percentage point increase the month before, making the net signal modest and noisy.

**Context and Interpretation**