Woodstock Jobless Rate Inches Higher

Sign up for the Woodstock-Towne Lake Patch newsletter!

---

The city of Woodstock saw a slight uptick in its jobless rate last month, the Georgia Department of Labor said Thursday.

The city’s rate climbed to 5.2 percent in October, up a hair from 5.1 percent in September. Woodstock’s unemployment rate in October 2014 was 6.1 percent.

Cherokee County’s overall unemployment rate remained unchanged last month, GDOL says.

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.

Jobless rates for surrounding cities include: Alpharetta at 4.1 percent; Johns Creek at 4.4 percent; Kennesaw at 5.2 percent; Marietta at 5.1 percent; Milton at 4.4 percent; Roswell at 4.4 percent; Sandy Springs at 4.3 percent; and Smyrna at 4.7 percent.

GDOL tracks unemployment rates for cities that have a total population greater than 25,000.

Unemployment rates for neighboring counties are 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