Cherokee Unemployment Rate Drops To 5.3 Percent

Cherokee County’s unemployment rate dipped slightly last month.

That’s according to the Georgia Department of Labor, which reported the preliminary rate fell to 5.3 percent in November. That’s a four-tenths of a percent drop from October’s adjusted rate of 5.7 percent. Cherokee’s unemployment rate in November 2013 stood at 5.8 percent.

Other surrounding counties also saw their rates drop from October to November: Bartow from 6.8 to 6.3 percent; Cobb from 6.5 to 6 percent; Forsyth from 5.4 to 5 percent; Fulton from 7.8 to 7.3 percent; and Pickens at 6.3 to 5.4 percent.

Metro Atlanta also saw a drop in its preliminary unemployment rate. GDOL says the area’s unemployment rate for November was 6.5 percent, down five-tenths of a percentage point from 7 percent in October. The rate in November of last year was also 7 percent.

The metro area added 17,800 new jobs in November, pushing the total to 2.5 million, up 0.7 percent, from 2.4 million in October.

GDOL notes most of the growth came in the trade, transportation and warehousing industries, which gained 13,800 jobs, primarily because of holiday hiring. Other increases came in education and health services and government at 1,300 each; financial services at 1,200; manufacturing at 600; information services at 500; other services at 800, and leisure and hospitality.

And, there was an over-the-year gain of 59,600 jobs, or 2.4 percent, from 2.4 million in November 2013.

GDOL says this was the largest November-to-November growth since 2006, when there were 66,200 jobs created. Most of the job growth came in trade, transportation and warehousing at 24,200; professional and business services at 13,300; leisure and hospitality at 7,100; financial services at 5,700; manufacturing at 3,300; construction at 2,900; education and health services at 2,300; local government at 1,500; and information services at 700.

Meanwhile, Georgia’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate for November was 7.2 percent, down from a revised 7.6 percent in October. The decrease was the largest over-the-month drop on record.