Cherokee Jobless Rate Holds Steady

Sign up for the Canton-Sixes Patch newsletter!

---

The unemployment rate in Cherokee County saw no change in October, the Georgia Department of Labor said Thursday.

The county’s preliminary jobless rate was 4.5 percent last month, the same percentage for September. The rate in October 2014 was 5.3 percent.

How does the county stack up with its neighbors? The jobless rates for surrounding counties include: Bartow at 5.4 percent; Cobb at 4.8 percent; Dawson at 4.9 percent; Forsyth at 4.4 percent; Fulton at 5.6 percent; and Pickens at 5.1 percent. 

Metro Atlanta’s jobless rate in October also fell to 5.4 percent, its lowest point since 5.4 percent was recorded in November 2005. The rate was down one-tenth of a percentage point from 5.5 percent in September. The rate in October 2014 was 6.5 percent.

The rate declined as metro Atlanta employers created 32,400 jobs, pushing the total job count up 1.3 percent to 2.6 million. GDOL states this is the largest over-the-month job growth in Atlanta since February 2011, and much stronger than the average September-to-October growth of 22,100 jobs for the last three years.

The job gains came mostly in trade, transportation and warehousing, 10,800; professional and business services, 6,800; state and local government, 4,100; leisure and hospitality, 3,200; education and health services, 3,100; manufacturing, 1,900; financial activities, 1,500, and other services, 1,200. Construction lost 300 jobs.

Metro Gainesville had the lowest area jobless rate at 4.7 percent, while the Heart of Georgia-Altamaha region had the highest at 7.3 percent. Georgia’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate for October was 5.7 percent, down from 5.8 percent in September. It was 6.8 percent in October 2014.

Note: Local area unemployment data are not seasonally adjusted. Additional Georgia labor market data are available at www.dol.georgia.gov.

---

Image via Patch