Initial unemployment claims were down slightly over last month and down significantly compared to last year.

First-time unemployment claims were down more than 40 percent in Gordon County in January 2010 compared to January 2009, the Georgia Department of Labor announced on Thursday.

Last month, 1,156 unemployed workers living in Gordon County filed for unemployment benefits, a decrease of 908 from 2,064 in January 2009. This an annual drop of 44 percent.

Month-to-month numbers decreased as well, with 208 fewer Gordon County residents filing for initial claims, a decline of 15.2 percent.

Since employer-filed, or partial claims, are reported as initial claims, data suggests that manufacturing workers in these industries were on short-time, or part-time, work in November, and then returned to work full-time in December.

Statewide, 95,264 laid-off workers filed initial claims in January, a decrease of 5,632, or 5.6 percent, from 100,896 in December. Also, there was a decline of 24,875, or 20.7 percent, from 120,139 claims filed in January 2009.

“Typically, initial claims rise in January, due to layoffs following increased hiring of temporary workers for the holiday shopping season,” said State Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond. “However, this past November and December, retailers didn’t hire as many seasonal workers as they usually do, resulting in fewer January layoffs.”

Most of Georgia’s first-time claims filed were in manufacturing, trade, construction and administrative and support services.

The average length of time jobless Georgia workers drew UI benefits in January increased to 15.8 weeks, the longest duration on record. The duration in January 2009 was 11.5 weeks.

The number of jobless workers receiving regular state unemployment benefits decreased 34,292, or 18.7 percent, from 183,829 in January 2009 to 149,537 in January 2010. Another 198,000 received federal Extended Unemployment Compensation.

Additional reporting by Lydia Senn.