First-time unemployment claims in Floyd County jumped between December and January, and the number of employed workers dropped, but initial claims were not much different from January 2012, according to Georgia Department of Labor figures released Thursday.

There were 1,529 initial claims filed in Floyd County in January, a 92.8 percent jump from 793 initial claims in December 2012. But January’s claims were only 1.8 percent higher than January 2012.

The number of employed workers in Floyd County dropped to 38,400 in January, down 800 from December 2012 but up 500 from January 2012.

Gordon, Bartow and Polk counties also showed jumps in their January claims. Gordon’s rate jumped by 112.6 percent, Bartow’s rate jumped by 234.5 percent, and Polk’s rate jumped by 113.3 percent.

Georgia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for January was 8.7 percent, unchanged from December. The rate was 9.3 percent in January a year ago.

There was a loss of 47,700 mostly seasonal jobs and a jump in initial claims for jobless insurance benefits over the month, but the increases were not enough to impact the unemployment rate.

“The good news in this report is that we lost the fewest jobs for January since 1987,” said State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler. “And, we start the year with 79,600 more jobs in January than we had in the same period a year ago.”

Statewide, the number of jobs increased to 3,956,300 from 3,876,700 in January 2012. Most of the over-the-year job growth came in professional and business services, 25,500; leisure and hospitality, 21,300; education and health care, 16,100; trade, transportation and warehousing, 13,000; and manufacturing 5,800.