Politics

Metro Atlanta’s Unemployment Rate Rose In January, Report Says

March 10th, 2016

The new year started with a slight bump in joblessness in the capital of the Peach State.

“Most areas of the state are benefitting from the economic expansion,” Roger Tutterow, economics professor at Kennesaw State University, said. ”Almost every area has seen increases in payroll and reductions in the unemployment rate.”

The Georgia Department of Labor reports the unemployment rate for Metro Atlanta was 5.2 percent in January. That’s up four-tenths of a point from December.

“However, we are a point lower than we were a year ago when we were at 6.2 percent,” Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said.

Butler said the change between December and January is expected due to seasonal jobs ending. He also said Atlanta’s job market is in much better shape now than it was at the start of 2015.

“That is represented by the fact that we are seeing 88,000 more jobs today that we saw at the same time last year, which represents a very strong 3.5 percent job growth in the Atlanta area,” Butler said.

The lowest jobless rate in the state was in the metro Gainesville area.

“Typically you look for the sort of industries that create jobs state-wide, like professional business services, leisure and hospitalities, some gains in trade, some gains in construction,” Tutterow said. “And Gainesville has a pretty good mix of industries in that area.”

Metro Dalton had the highest.

“They’re expanding the economy again, they’re adding jobs back and they’re bringing down the unemployment rate,” Tutterow said of Dalton. ”But it’s hard to imagine a more Draconian economy for Dalton than what they went through between 2007 and 2011.”