Cobb Unemployment Rate Increases in June

by Rodney Thrash

Cobb County's unemployment rate rose from 7.5 percent in May to 8.0 percent in June, according to numbers the Georgia Department of Labor released Thursday.

That increase mirrored an uptick across metro Atlanta, where the unemployment rate jumped from 8.2 percent in May to 8.9 percent in June.

In a statement, the Department of Labor attributed the increase to the large numbers of education workers who are unemployed during the summer and new graduates who are considered unemployed until they find a job.

Of the three Cobb cities for which the Department of Labor keeps statistics, Kennesaw had the highest jobless rate at 9.8 percent, up from 9.3 percent in May.

Marietta's unemployment rate increased from 8.7 to 9.2 percent and Smyrna's rate bumped from 7.8 to 8.0 percent, according to the agency.

Metro Athens had the lowest area jobless rate in Georgia at 7.2 percent, while the Heart of Georgia-Altamaha region had the highest at 12.9 percent.