Politics & Government

Metro Atlanta's unemployment rate drops to 8.2 percent in October

The jobless rates for both the state and metro Atlanta area still trail the current national unemployment rate of 7.9 percent.

 

The Georgia Department of Labor  (GDOL) announced Thursday that the preliminary unemployment rate in metro Atlanta declined to 8.2 percent in October, down one-tenth of a percentage point from 8.3 percent in September.

The rate was 9.4 percent in October 2011.

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Last week, GDOL announced that Georgia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate declined to 8.7 percent in October, down three-tenths of a percentage point from 9.0 percent in September. The state jobless rate was 9.7 percent in October a year ago.

The jobless rates in October for both the state and metro area still trail the current national rate of 7.9 percent.

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In the core metro areas, Clayton County continues to have the highest jobless rate at 10.5 percent last month. Then comes Fulton (9 percent), DeKalb (8.8 percent), Cobb (7.5 percent) and Gwinnett (7.3 percent).

The metro Atlanta rate declined because of an increase of 19,500 new jobs. There were 2,353,500 jobs in October, up eight-tenths of a percentage point, from 2,334,000 in September.

The growth came in retail trade, up 5,900; professional, scientific, and technical services, up 2,800; education and health care, up 2,600; accommodations and food services, up 2,200; local government, up 2,200; technology, 1,400; construction, 1,200; and financial services, 800. In one year’s time, jobs were up in metro Atlanta by 33,700, or 1.5 percent, from 2,319,800 in October 2011.

Metro Athens continued to have the lowest area jobless rate at 6.2 percent, while metro Dalton had the highest at 11.3 percent.

Statewide, there were 3,971,700 jobs in October, up 36,000, or nine-tenths of a percentage point, from 3,935,700 in September. Over the year, Georgia gained 68,000 jobs, or 1.7 percent, from 3,903,700 in October 2011.


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