Business & Tech

Metro Atlanta's Jobless Rate Lowest in Five-Plus Years

The unemployment rate was down seven-tenths of a percentage point last month from 7.7 percent in October. The rate was 8.1 percent in November a year ago.

Patch Staff Report

The Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL) announced Thursday that metro Atlanta’s unemployment rate decreased to 7.0 percent in November, the lowest the rate has been since it was 6.9 percent in October 2008.

The jobless rate was down seven-tenths of a percentage point from 7.7 percent in October. The rate was 8.1 percent in November a year ago.

The rate declined last month primarily because the number of jobs increased and the number of unemployment insurance claims were down.

Metro Athens had the lowest area jobless rate at 5.1 percent, while the Heart of Georgia-Altamaha region had the highest at 10 percent.

Last week, GDOL announced that the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased to 7.7 percent in November, its lowest point since November 2008, when it was 7.6 percent. The rate was 8.7 percent in November a year ago.

Non-seasonally adjusted rates for individual cities and counties are provided in the attached pdf file with this report, and can also be found here.

Metro Atlanta employers added 14,300 jobs in November, increasing the number of jobs to 2,447,600, up by 0.6 percent from 2,433,300 in October. Most of the new jobs were added in trade, transportation and warehousing, 8,600; government, 2,000; leisure and hospitality, 1,800; education and health care, 1,200; and information services and construction, 800 each.

Over the year, jobs were up by 59,200, or 2.5 percent, from 2,388,400 in November 2012. The big job gainers were in professional and business services, 15,100; leisure and hospitality, 12,000; education and health services, 11,500; and construction, 10,500; and trade, transportation and warehousing, 8,700.

The number of new layoffs, represented by initial claims for unemployment insurance (UI) benefits, decreased to 16,222, down by 3,198, or 16.5 percent, from 19,420 in October. Claims declined in several sectors, including professional and technical services, 563; administrative and support services, 419; health care and social assistance, 354; manufacturing, 342; and retail trade, 309. There were 21,797 claims in November 2012.

The number of unemployed people in Atlanta decreased to 190,266, down by 18,611 from 208,877 in October. There were 223,686 unemployed in November 2012.


GDOL provided information for this story that was edited for publication


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