Metro Atlanta’s jobless rate jumps to 10.5 percent in June
The unemployment rate in metro Atlanta skyrocketed to 10.5 percent in June, from a revised 9.7 percent in May, the state labor department said Thursday.
The jobless rate is now higher than a year ago, when it was in 10.3 percent.
“The increase was caused primarily by two seasonal factors,” Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said in a statement. (Metro Atlanta’s rate is not seasonally adjusted.) “There were layoffs among non-contract public school employees, such as bus drivers and janitorial workers, and an increase in the labor force, as students began looking for permanent or part-time jobs.”
Metro Atlanta had a net loss of 4,600 jobs, with additional layoffs in manufacturing, trade, administrative and support services, health care and social assistance, the labor department said.
Among the core metro counties, Clayton had the highest unemployment rate at 13 percent. Fulton posted 11 percent, followed by DeKalb (10.8 percent), Cobb (9.8) percent and Gwinnett (9.4 percent).
In the city of Atlanta, unemployment hit 11.8 percent — up from 10.6 percent a year ago.
Last week, the labor department said Georgia’s unemployment rate, which is seasonally adjusted, rose to 9.9 percent in June, from a revised 9.8 percent in May.
June marked the 47th consecutive month Georgia has exceeded the national unemployment rate, which is currently 9.2 percent.
- Henry Unger, The Biz Beat
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245 comments Add your comment
Sanjeev
July 28th, 2011
12:35 pm
Is this the hope and change people voted for?
shaggy
July 28th, 2011
12:35 pm
ADD,
Another thing is, we don’t give a rat’s ass how you did it in “joysey”.
ADD
July 28th, 2011
12:40 pm
Shaggy – Don’t make your assumption that I am a Yankee, or even remotely from “Joisey”. You are far off base in that presumotion. Transplant does not mean Yankee…except perhaps to you.
gm
July 28th, 2011
12:43 pm
Thats right rep in the house, continue to talk about the debt ceiling instead of jobs, the retards tea party idiots dont know any better, what a scam on those idiots.
I’m sure Sony Perdue brought a lot of jobs to Georgia, employers can not waiteto come to hicksville ga, where conservatives continue to get elected year after year by these conservatives bigots in these state.
shaggy
July 28th, 2011
12:50 pm
ADD,
Then, be a good “transplant” and:
VOTE LIBERTARIAN
So, we can get both of these corrupt ruling parties out of power…
I am sick and tired of one chasing my money and the other peering into my bedroom.
I am fed up with putting any other country first, like worthless wars for “regime change” that give Americans no benefit. I say if we go to war, we take it over…lock stock and barrel…make it a freakin U.S. territory.
I hate what both “interpretations” of The Constitution have done to erode American liberties.
I abhor bleeding out manufacturing jobs overseas, while China buys our credit at a currency discount, like some twisted ATM.
You get it? I don ‘t really care if you do or not.
wow!
July 28th, 2011
12:58 pm
Maybe it is just the fact that Georgians are dumb and don’t know how to create jobs and run an economy. If you look at Georgia’s Education system it may be a thing to look at!
Manny
July 28th, 2011
1:00 pm
I really wish yall would shut up about change this isn’t just a Obama problem or Republican, we almost had a complete meltdown to the U.S. This is going to take a lot of time to recover, you just can’t snap your fingers and make things better, On both sides of Congress they have made stupid choices.
Deshamanequa
July 28th, 2011
1:06 pm
“The increase was caused primarily by two seasonal factors,…”
The third factor, the one that’s politically incorrect to talk about, is that for folks @ the low end of the wage scale the $330 a week unemployment welfare check from the State is probably more than they can earn working in a fast food restaurant, net of taxes and OASDI. We keep paying people not to work and then bleat about the unemployment rate.
reading
July 28th, 2011
1:20 pm
From national papers: “The government reported that first-time applications for state unemployment benefits fell to the lowest level in four months, a sign that employers were laying off fewer workers. The Labor Department said applications fell to a seasonally adjusted 398,000.”
So, good news at the national level. Bad news in Georgia. But don’t let that get in the way of your Obama narrative commenters.
illputitoncspan
July 28th, 2011
1:33 pm
Sorry, but people need to move to where the jobs are. And they are not here. So the people who moved here because they bought into the hype, and because this is “THE ATL” – Sorry, but you should look elsewhere.
Peter
July 28th, 2011
1:42 pm
HA HA HA… Please to this…..Is this the hope and change people voted for?
No one in Georgia voted for change…they voted to let another crooked Republican run the state into the ground.
Yella Dog
July 28th, 2011
1:51 pm
Dis be Bushs fault. Da wars gots us in dis mess an Obama needs another fo years to fix it.
Fo mo years !
Swanzae
July 28th, 2011
2:09 pm
I would be willing to move overseas in order to work. Tje companies there are looking for experienced Americans. I am seriously considering a move. If I can get a fair price on my home I will say goodbye to the ATL!!
Homer
July 28th, 2011
2:35 pm
We pay farmers not to grow so why is it such a stretch to pay people not to work?
Peter
July 28th, 2011
2:39 pm
Funny stuff Homer…… but sick as well !
Homer
July 28th, 2011
2:39 pm
I heard an interesting comment from a small business owner that consistently makes over $250K annually. He said that he can’t create jobs if his workers have nothing to do. The true job creators are the consumers that make $35K – $50K a year. When they are buying, jobs are created. The more money you take out of their pockets the fewer jobs are created. Kinda makes sense, doesn’t it?
Steve
July 28th, 2011
2:42 pm
The state is completely run by Republicans. Where are all the jobs?
Failed Capital State
July 28th, 2011
2:48 pm
This is just capitalism at work.
EJ Moosa
July 28th, 2011
2:50 pm
“The state is completely run by Republicans.”
But these Republicans were democrats before changing parties, including the last two governors….
Almost Sensible
July 28th, 2011
3:22 pm
If we spent as much time working together as we did blaming each other we would be back in the black by now.. Truth is, not very many people on either side of the fence is squeaky clean. To make things worse, politicians have become increasingly greedy. What happened to the times when being a public servant meant serving the public and not yourself? The American people need to make sure their politicians aren’t forgetting who they represent, get more involved in government. When we only have like 56-ish% of the nation voting, what do you honestly expect will happen?
BUCK OFAMA
July 28th, 2011
3:25 pm
The problem is the financial uncertainty, perpetuated by the clueless clown in the white house. You know: Ovomit, aka Oblowme, aka commander c0cksucker.
This is just sad
July 28th, 2011
3:26 pm
All the jobs are in India, China, Mexico, Thailand and the Philippines. As long as Americans continue to spend money at retail outlets, car manufacturers, and technology companies that continue to have products made overseas and call centers based outside of the US the American economy will continue to collapse. The top 2% are not the people spending money in America, the middle class were and now that the middle classes has ceased to exist the economy is getting worse with each passing day.
Get your facts straight
July 28th, 2011
3:29 pm
@ Why Not 6:42am post – It appears that you are not informed correctly…the only way to receive unemployment benefits is to have worked a minium of 600 hours or have earned at least $3,000.00. Corporations actually have insurance they have to carry to pay for unemployment benefits should the need arise for former employees.
Government only pays a fraction of unemployment benefits. There is the initial claim paid by the employer and 4 consective tiers that follow, then there is the State tier which usually equates to about 4 to 6 weeks of payment and then the Federal tier that equates to 4 weeks.
So the government does not pay all of the unemployment benefits. Please educate yourself on how unemployment benefits work before making such a statement in the future and god help you if you ever have to rely on those funds, since it seems like you have such a problem with those receiving the benefits.
Almost Sensible
July 28th, 2011
3:30 pm
I would also recommned voting libertarian, as shaggy is pointing out. If a third party can get a significant showing, even if they lose, it would hopefully be a wake-up call to the powers at be who have seemingly lost touch with the American people. I’m sick of our politicians, on both sides, bleeding the country dry. We need a real change people, and one in the positive direction.
Tea Partier
July 28th, 2011
3:30 pm
Republicans in Georgia were Democrats a decade ago, or less.
Look no further than Nathan Deal and Sonny Perdue.
A Georgia “Republican” is typically pro-life and pro 2nd Amendment. They are not conservative but stick to their big government philosophy carried over from their Democrat days.
The Outlaw Josey Wales
July 28th, 2011
3:38 pm
Don’t blame me, I voted for the American.
Corp Reality
July 28th, 2011
3:39 pm
I have worked at some of the biggest companies in Atlanta, and had managers tell me point blank, that in the event of a layoff, they have to start with white males on the chopping block, then work their way down to white females, and so on. It’s all about “protected classes.”
A layoff used to be an opportunity to trim the fat, the low performers…now its all about cost cutting and only letting go the ones who can’t/are least likely to sue for discrimination.
You work harder than the others and they can you anyways because the lawyers tell them to.
The Outlaw Josey Wales
July 28th, 2011
3:39 pm
10.2% unemployment? And we used to think Jimmy Carter sucked…
aj
July 28th, 2011
3:48 pm
So,on the front page we have ‘Metro jobless rate skyrockets’ and under that ‘Unemployment drops’
ummm..
Homer
July 28th, 2011
3:49 pm
Corp Reality, get off your soapbox and stop making up lies. Even if the tale you are spinning was true, there isn’t a manager worth his weight in salt that would tell it to a blabbermouth like you.
william
July 28th, 2011
3:54 pm
If that idiot in the White House had ANY dignity at all, he would have resigned and took his own life 5 months ago. Sorry to say for you still looking that were still 16 months away from Salvation.
Mishap
July 28th, 2011
3:54 pm
Corp Reality,
Given the current unemployment rates based on race/gender, I think it’s safe to say discrimination lawsuits haven’t kept companies from letting blacks/hispanics go or even white men over 40 (they’re a protected class too). It may be more of a function of % w/ college degrees and cost but it’s ugly regardless. So either start marking your race as African American or adding a few years to your driver’s license if you’re that worried about being a white male.
Companies have cut a lot of low performers. Hence the # of people w/o jobs having a stigma attached to them as being bad workers. The only guy my company let go in my group in the 2 yrs I’ve been here was a middle aged white guy that brought his son in all the time like it was a daycare. Probably didn’t help that he was rarely in before 10 and out before 4 daily.
ExExaminer
July 28th, 2011
3:55 pm
Those “unemployment rates” are bogus. Anybody with half a brain knows its a lot higher.
God help us.
OPA`
July 28th, 2011
4:01 pm
Call and thank your president for this changy thingy
No more change for me
July 28th, 2011
4:14 pm
At least under Bush this unemployed Black man could find a job.
In November 2012 I will be singing a different tune.
Red State Losers
July 28th, 2011
4:21 pm
Nothing like living in a Red State. The only ‘promised’ jobs produced by the GOP were the interns and office assistants they hired for themselves.
wow!
July 28th, 2011
4:24 pm
I love these article because it shows how stupid and ignorant us Americans are. We destroy ourselves but yet look to blame someone else, the problem is US Americans. It’s not the president, its everybody collectively.
Republicans, Democrats, etc. and stupid citizens. Make your own way, by the way I DO expect the government to help me when I am pay damn near 40% of income tax, ad valorem tax, tolls, sales tax, property tax, and any and everything that I am trying to do. So basically 50 – 60% of my money is going to the government so yes I want free healthcare, unemployment, etc.
It’s easy for these rich Republicans to say “We have the right to keep ours”. Well pay TAXES, if you are privileged to make millions and billions off our people and land, then you need to pay more simple and plain
Alphare
July 28th, 2011
4:32 pm
Obama is in office because Republicans cannot do the darn job. And the country is so much ruined by Republicans, it will take more than 4 years for Obama to dig the country out. That’s why the country is still in shamble.
Georgia is worse than national average because republicans have been in total control of the state government longer than average.
Point/Counterpoint
July 28th, 2011
4:35 pm
william – “Sorry to say for you still looking that were still 16 months away from Salvation.”
Sorry Chief, the actual projection is more like 10 years away. I know the 16 months ties in with your Obama hatefest, but I don’t want you to be disappointed when 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, etc… roll by and your still looking for a job.
ADD
July 28th, 2011
4:55 pm
Shaggy – I am 100% on board with you on the need to shift to a different system such as Libertarianism – the present state of affairs is not working and, at least to me, it seems irreparably broken. Change is needed.
ADD
July 28th, 2011
5:01 pm
Shag – I’m completely on board with you on that issue (shift to Libertarian). The present system is just irreparably broken and has outlived its original functionality. I basically just got miffed at the posters before me who attribute the problems to transplants from other areas who have settled in Georgia. That old song gets really tired after all these years – Some of us transplants, including myself, love this state and want to be part of the solution – not part of the problem.
Such is Life
July 28th, 2011
5:31 pm
That is what we get for allowing people who have never had a job or earned a living vote. But I will gladly take my $330.00 a week unemployment ( yes I am being sarcastic ) I figure I have paid almost 7 figures in income tax over the past 27 years and for what. Lets just hope the GOP gives us a decent candidate in 2012 and the idiot people who voted 2 years ago end up getting food poisoning the day before the next election and can’t get out of bed or are stuck to the toilet.
ALL-AMERICAN RED, WHITE, & BLUE!!!!
July 28th, 2011
5:54 pm
1.) RAISE THE DEBT CEILING NOW!IT’S BEEN DONE BEFORE…REAGANOMNICS!!!!
2.) SHUT DOWN THE BORDERS! LET’S BUILD IT HERE (CARS, FOOD, ENERGY, WATER etc…) AND BUY IT HERE! IF IT AIN’T MADE IN THE USA, YOU CAN KEEP IT!!
3.) MAKE ENGLISH THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE HERE IN AMERICA! CAN’T SPEAK IT, LEARN IT! GOTTA TO KNOW IT OR YA’ GOTTA GO!!!
4.) BUY AMERICAN! BUY AMERICAN! BUY AMERICAN!
5.) COMPANIES THAT OUTSOURCE THEIR JOBS WILL BE HIT WITH AN OUTSOURCE TAX OF 40%.
6.) BRING ALL MILITARY HOME! THEY CAN MAN THE BORDERS AND OUR NAUTICAL TERRITORY!
7.) NO IMPORTS OF ANY KIND! BUY AMERICAN! BUY AMERICAN!
8.) NO MORE TAX ON YOUR INCOME, TAX ONLY ON YOUR PURCHASES!
WHAT DID WE THINK WAS GONNA HAPPEN IN THIS WORLD WIDE MARKET PLACE, AMERICAN JOBS LOST!!
GaNative
July 28th, 2011
7:29 pm
Wow, people talk about Obama and blame him for everything under the sun that isn’t going well. I knew years ago that the Shid was going to hit the fan when I saw so many American workers being displaced by foreign labor (offshore and those they allow in the country on the H-1B Visa Program). That kind of stuff killed the American worker long before Obama and even Bush took office. If you want to blame somebody, blame your corporate executives who lobbyed for this bill. Blame Bill Gates at microsoft who’s company imported more Indians than any other company to develop Windows Vista. Remember what a flop that was? Now every company that uses them is seeing an increase in Profits because labor is cheap, but their products are not worth a dime. Pretty soon with all the American workers sitting at home, no one will buy their products and their profits will erode. Then and only then will Change we can Believe In happen.
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