ICYMI: Atlanta Unemployment Rate for May Increases

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The Georgia Department of Labor announced Thursday that the unemployment rate in Atlanta increased between the months of April and May, matching a general increase across the state.

According to the data released Thursday, the unemployment rate in Atlanta’s portion of Fulton County increased from 6.3 percent to 6.7 percent between April and May of this year. The unemployment rate this time last year was 7.9 percent.

Atlanta’s higher unemployment rate matches the uptick in jobless figures on the state level; according to data released last week, the state’s unemployment rate increased from 6.2 to 6.3 percent between April and May, but it’s still below May 2014’s unemployment rate of 7.3 percent.

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The news on the labor front isn’t all bad, however; the labor force grew to 4,774,912, an increase of 7,379 from April, the data shows.

“Over the year, we’re still showing strong job growth,” State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said in a statement last week. “We had 114,900 more jobs than we did a year ago. And, the pace of job growth in Georgia at 2.8 percent is better than the national average at 2.2 percent. Right now, we’re showing a stronger pace of growth than we did last year, and 2014 was a very good year.”