Sandy Springs Jobless Rate Falls To 5.2 Percent

The city of Sandy Springs saw its jobless rate fall last month.

That’s according to the Georgia Department of Labor, which on Thursday said the city’s preliminary rate fell to 5.2 percent in November. That’s a drop from 5.6 percent in October and 5.5 percent in November 2013.

Fulton County also saw its rate drop last month to 7.3 percent from 7.8 percent in October. The county’s rate in November 2013 was 7.7 percent.

Sandy Springs isn’t the only municipality that experienced this positive news. Surrounding cities also witnessed declines in their preliminary unemployment rates for November: Alpharetta from 5.4 to 5 percent; Atlanta from 9.2 to 8.6 percent; Dunwoody from 5.5 to 5.1 percent; Johns Creek from 6.1 to 5.6 percent; Marietta from 7.4 to 7 percent; Milton from 5.8 to 5.2 percent; Roswell from 5.3 to 4.8 percent; and Smyrna from 6.8 to 6.4 percent.

Metro Atlanta also saw a decline 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.

Photo credit: Patch file