Jobless Rates Fall For Both Alpharetta, Milton

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Both Alpharetta and Milton saw improvements in their respective jobless rates.

That’s according to new numbers released on Thursday by the Georgia Department of Labor that show the unemployment rate in both cities dropped last month.

Alpharetta’s rate clocked in at 5.8 percent, down from 6.3 percent in August. However, it’s still slightly higher than 5.6 percent recorded a year ago.

For its part, Milton reported an unemployment rate of 6.1 percent, a decrease from 6.5 percent last month. The city’s most recent rate is the same as it was a year ago.

Surrounding cities also saw decreases in their respective rates: Roswell at 5.5 percent, Sandy Springs at 5.8 percent, Marietta at 7.6 percent, Woodstock at 7.2 percent, Johns Creek at 6.6 percent, Dunwoody at 5.6 percent and Duluth at 6.7 percent.

The unemployment rate for Fulton County also fell to 8.2 percent from 8.8 percent in August. The county’s rate remains better than 8.4 percent recorded last year.

Along with the local rate, metro Atlanta’s unemployment figure also declined. The area’s rate September was 7.3 percent, down from 8.0 percent in August. The rate in September of last year was 7.6 percent.

GDOL reports the rate dropped because there were 19,374 fewer unemployed people in the Atlanta area in September, according to the federal government’s monthly household survey, and there were fewer new layoffs.

While the rate decreased, metro Atlanta lost 4,000 jobs last month, as the total number of jobs declined to 2,468,600, down from 2,472,600, or 0.2 percent, from August.

Most of the job loss came in professional and business services, as well as in leisure and hospitality, as students who worked during the summer returned to school. On a positive note, four sectors did add Jobs in September: government, education and health services, construction, which has increased for the third straight month, and trade and transportation.

There was an over-the-year gain of 51,900 jobs, or 2.2 percent, from September 2013’s 2,416,700, according to GDOL.

This was the second largest September-to-September growth since 2007. The job gains were in: trade, transportation and warehousing at 14,400; professional and business services at 13,200; leisure and hospitality at 8,600; manufacturing at 4,600; construction at 3,900; financial services at 3,500; education and health services at 2,700; government at 2,000; and information services at 1,300.

Other services, including repair and maintenance and personal and laundry services, lost 2,300 jobs.

Additionally, there were 14,232 new claims for unemployment insurance filed in September, a decrease of 630, or 4.2 percent, from 14,862 in August, GDOL states. Most of the decrease in claims came in retail trade, accommodations and food services, and manufacturing and construction. Over the year, claims were down 14.9 percent from the 16,717 filed in September 2013.