Atlanta's Unemployment Rate Declines

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The percentage of Atlanta’s workforce without employment decreased last month, the Georgia Department of Labor said Thursday.

In Atlanta’s section of Fulton County, the unemployment rate decreased from 7.2 percent to 6.8 percent; in March of 2014, the city’s unemployment rate was 8 percent. According to the Department of Labor, 259 fewer Atlanta workers with Fulton addresses were jobless in March, but the overall workforce declined from 214,109 to 212,892.

Lower unemployment in Atlanta mirrored the overall trend of job creation in the metro Atlanta area, the Department of Labor said. Across the metro area, the unemployment rate dropped from 6.1 percent in February to 5.9 percent in March. The metro’s unemployment rate in March of 2014 was 7 percent.

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The net number of jobs in Atlanta increased by 1,900, with trade, transportation and warehousing, leisure and hospitality, and professional and business services driving the growth. 80,500 more jobs exist in the metro area now than existed in March of 2014, the Department of Labor said.

However, the number of initial claims for unemployment insurance increased between February and March by 233 claimants to 14,267. Most of these new claims came from newly-unemployed workers in professional and technical services, educational services, information services, wholesale trade, finance and insurance, and health care and social assistance industries. Compared to March of 2014, the number of unemployment claims was also higher by 227.

The Department of Labor said that Metro Gainesville had the lowest area jobless rate at 4.9 percent, while the Heart of Georgia-Altamaha region had the highest at 7.8 percent. The state’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate for March was 6.3 percent, matching the February rate. Last March, the rate was 7.3 percent.