One week after we all came to know of record-high unemployment in the state, the Georgia Department of Labor, on Thursday, released numbers specific to metro Atlanta.

The State labor department of Metro Atlanta reported that Atlanta area's unemployment rate has risen to 10.1 percent in December, up from the revised 10.0 percent in November. The unemployment rate in the December 2008 in the Metro Atlanta's surprisingly low at 7.6%. The labor department also said that the number of unemployed workers in Atlanta has increased by 3,252 and has reached 269,422 in December. Metro Atlanta lost 105,300 payroll jobs between December 2008 and December 2009.

Even so, it's slightly better than the overall state average statistics, which for December climbed to 10.3%.

In the last 25 months Georgia's unemployment rate has even exceeded the total national unemployment rate. Those who have who have stopped or given up on finding work, moved away, or taken part-time or lower-paying jobs are not included in these figures and for the rest of the quarter million metro Atlanta people who are still looking for jobs, there are simply fewer positions.

The state Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond said in an interview that when the economy rebounds there is no guarantee on seeing the same job levels as they were before the recession. He also said that the people who are finding it difficult to get jobs to get higher education and better training to relocate and reposition themselves for better opportunities.

And that's exactly what a lot of people are doing. The new figures show nearly 19,000 more students got themselves enrolled in Georgia's public colleges and universities this fall compared to last year.