Jobless Rate Falls in Cherokee County

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The unemployment rate declined significantly last month in Cherokee County and the metro Atlanta area, according to data released Thursday by the Georgia Department of Labor.

The preliminary jobless rate in Cherokee fell four-tenths of a percentage point in August to 4.7 percent, down from 5.1 in July.

The rate in August 2014 was 6.1 percent, according to the state.

So how does Cherokee County compare to its neighbors? The preliminary rates stood at 5.7 percent in Bartow; 5.1 percent in Cobb; 4.9 percent in Dawson; 4.5 percent in Forsyth; 5.9 percent in Fulton; and 5.1 percent in Pickens.

The metro Atlanta rate for August was 5.7 percent, also down four-tenths from the previous month. The rate was 7.3 percent a year ago.

GDOL noted the rate declined as employers created more jobs and initial unemployment insurance claims decreased.

Metro Gainesville once again had the lowest area jobless rate in Georgia at 4.8 percent, while the Heart of Georgia-Altamaha region had the highest at 7.7 percent.

Georgia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for August was 5.9 percent, down from 6.0 percent in July. It was 7.1 percent in August 2014.

You can scroll through local and regional unemployment data here. Please note that local area unemployment data is not seasonally adjusted.

Patch Editor Scott Bernarde contributed to this article.

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