Metro Atlanta Area Unemployment Hits 8 Percent in August; Rate Increases Inside Perimeter

The unemployment rate in metro Atlanta increased slightly to 8.0 percent in August, according to labor force estimates released Thursday morning by the Georgia Department of Labor.

The July jobless rate was 7.9 percent, up from 7.6 in June. The metro rate in May was 7.3 percent. The rate in August 2013 was 7.9 percent.

Fulton County’s unemployment rate increased from 8.7 to 8.9 percent between July and August. The county’s unemployment rate was at 8.7 percent this time last year. 5,454 fewer Fulton County citizens were in the workforce in August compared to July, and 484 more residents were out of work in August than in July.

In the section of Fulton County inside Atlanta city limits , the unemployment rate jumped from 10.4 to 10.6 percent between July and August. In August of 2013, Fulton’s inside-the-perimeter unemployment rate was at 10.4 percent. 2,168 Atlantans left the workforce between July and August of this year, and 92 residents lost their jobs during the same time period.

In July, metro Athens had the lowest area jobless rate in Georgia at 6.4 percent, while metro Dalton had the highest rate at 10.7 percent.

Paradoxically, although the unemployment rate increased in the metro Atlanta area, the number of jobs between July and August increased by 5,900 to 2,470,660. Most of the new jobs were created in state and local government, private education and health services, manufacturing, and construction.

Additionally, first time unemployment claims dropped 22.9 percent during the same stretch. Since August 2013, 51,400 jobs have been created in the metro Atlanta area, the second-best over-the-year job growth rate since 2007. The top job-creating field over the past 12 months in the metro Atlanta area has been in professional and business services, with 17,600 new jobs in the sector since this time last year.

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