Cherokee Jobless Rate Drops Below 6 Percent

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The unemployment rate for Cherokee County improved for the month of September.

According to figures released on Thursday by the Georgia Department of Labor, the county’s rate dropped to 5.9 percent last month, down considerably from 6.6 percent in August and 6.2 percent from a year ago.

Cherokee’s rate followed the improving trend of its surrounding counties, all of which reported decreasing figures: Bartow at 6.7 percent, Pickens at 6.4 percent, Cobb at 6.7 percent, Fulton at 8.2 percent and Forsyth at 5.5 percent.

Along with the Cherokee 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.