Metro Atlanta, Smyrna Unemployment Numbers Up in July

Metro Atlanta’s jobless rate climbed another half-percentage point in July, reaching 8.0 percent for the first time in months.

The Georgia Department of Labor said the increase was primarily due to seasonal factors, such as layoffs in educational services and manufacturing.

But the departments also pointed out that most of those workers have now returned to work.

The unemployment rate in July 2013 was 8.3 in metro Atlanta.

There were 2,461,200 jobs in Atlanta in July, down by 2,700, or 0.1 percent, from June. Most of those losses came in local government.

However, the labor department also said private-sector employers created 8,900 jobs in July in the region.

In Smyrna, the unemployment rate increased to 7.3 percent from June’s level of 7.1 percent. 2,180 Smyrnans were unemployed in July, an increase of 39 from the June number of 2,141. In July of 2013, 2,261 or 7.6 percent of Smyrna residents were looking for work.

Cobb County’s unemployment rate sits at 7.2 percent, compared to June’s unemployment rate of 6.9 percent. 27,393 Cobb residents were unemployed in July, up from 26,157 unemployed in June. In July of 2013, 27,939 Cobb citizens were out of work, an unemployment rate of 7.4 percent

Georgia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for July was 7.8 percent, up from 7.4 percent in June.
Metro Athens had the lowest area jobless rate at 6.6 percent, while the Heart of Georgia-Altamaha region had the highest at 11.4 percent.

Local area unemployment data are not seasonally adjusted. Georgia labor market data are available at www.gdol.ga.gov