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Metro Atlanta’s jobless rate up slightly to 8.6 percent in May

4:25 am June 21, 2012, by Henry Unger

Metro Atlanta’s unemployment rate rose to 8.6 percent in May from 8.5 percent in April, the state labor department said Thursday.

While the labor force grew by 16,578 job seekers in May, a total of 6,008 people were not able to find work in the metro area, pushing up the jobless rate, the labor department said.

Also, there were 269 new layoffs in professional and technical services, educational services, health care and social assistance, and accommodations and food services.

The jobless rate is down from a year ago when it was 9.5 percent.

Among the core metro Atlanta counties, Gwinnett had May’s lowest jobless rate at 7.7 percent. Cobb was next with 8.1 percent, followed by DeKalb (9 percent), Fulton (9.5 percent) and Clayton (10.8 percent).

Statewide, metro Athens had the lowest area jobless rate at 6.5 percent, while metro Dalton had the highest at 11.4 percent.

Last week, the labor department said Georgia’s unemployment rate stayed at 8.9 percent from April to May — the first time in 10 months it failed to drop.

Joblessness in Georgia and metro Atlanta remains higher than the national rate, which is 8.2 percent.

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11 comments Add your comment

VOTE YES

June 21st, 2012
7:21 am

So let’s all vote against the TPLOST in July so we can make the situation worse!! Let’s face it… it’s getting more difficult to attract companies/jobs here because unlike other places our size, we are doing practically nothing when it comes to infrastructure improvements. If we aren’t willing to invest, why will companies??

MrLiberty

June 21st, 2012
10:53 am

So are these numbers based on the same government lies that make up federal stats? I mean seriously, government employment statistics are manipulated to make things look as good as possible. Various groups are left out and have been for many decades now. The Federal numbers are more like nearly 20% (go to shadowstats.com).

The government is doing everything to make things worse. Why would we expect things to be getting better?

A giant NO vote in July on SPLOST will at least tell government we don’t trust their ability to manage money and we won’t give them any more. This tax is not about investing in transit. It is about transferring wealth to government’s connected friends.

montrel

June 21st, 2012
11:41 am

higher unemployment, again???? what gives—I thought the recession was over last year. the economy’s worse than ever—I can’t find any good jobs.

Independent voter

June 22nd, 2012
6:59 am

20% when you count folks who have given up… willing to collect unemployment comp. until it runs out…. the U.S. gov’t is anti business pro labor unions.. won’t create new jobs for sure !!

Ghost

June 22nd, 2012
8:12 am

It amazes me that people continue to vote more taxes on themselves! Have they not paid attention to government waste in the last 40+ years????

The answer is not more taxes, it’s less spending or more oversight into the current spending.

Mark in mid-town

June 22nd, 2012
11:45 am

I’m among those who thinks that government is incompetent in just about everything it touches. Thus, I think it should only be involved in things when there is not private-sector alternative. With regard to T-SPLOST, there is no viable private sector alternative. Voting it down will, imo, greatly diminish the Atlanta region’s competitive position relative to other cities in terms of attacking new private investment, companies and jobs. It would be engaging in a slow suicide and biting our nose off to spite our face. Yes, government won’t spend the money in an efficient way, but again, there is no alternative to raising the billions of dollars necessary to improve our traffic infrustructure so that Atlanta region will be attractive for those looking to invest and grow companies,a nd thus create jobs.

Atlanta Home Price Rose in April 2012 - Seriously

June 26th, 2012
3:17 pm

[...] rate drops again. This happened again in May 2012, when the metro area’s unemployment rate rose from 8.5% to 8.6%. Still, we must look at the big picture. This time last year, the jobless rate was 9.5%. A [...]

gfan

June 27th, 2012
9:14 am

Makes sense. Nobody wants to be here when everything is made so cheaply and poorly. Why would a business want to move to a city of 1,000 Longhorn steakhouses? This is a place for low-level sales jobs and home builders that know how to cut corners and make ugly houses.

fatl

June 27th, 2012
11:24 am

cheer up ATL. KIM Kardashian and KAYNE are looking to ATLANTa to make some babies. they will creat a few jobs.

give me a break

June 27th, 2012
11:34 am

According to the Center for Public Integrity, Georgia is the most corrupt state in the union. Don’t expect improvements until we start electing honest people to government offices.

free enterprice

June 27th, 2012
11:51 am

After being laid off from my job in 09 and working dead end crap jobs just to try and pay the bills, I still ended up losing everything after my savings was exhausted!

I’ve pretty much given up looking for a job nowadays cause its all about who you know and not what you know. I’m in the 420 business now (if you know what I mean) and will continue to do what I’m doing til I get rich enough to start a real company or go to jail, whichever comes first!