Athens Unemployment Rate Rises Slightly in October

The 6.3 percent unemployment rate for Athens-Clarke County was considerably lower than the metro Atlanta rate for October in preliminary figures released by the GA Department of Labor today.
Although the unemployment rate rose from 6.1 percent in September, it was still much lower than the rate of 6.7 percent of a year ago.

Metro Atlanta’s unemployment rate increased to 7.7 percent in October, up three-tenths of a percentage point from 7.4 percent in September. The rate was 8.5 percent in October a year ago.

Alpharetta had the lowest rate at 5.8 percent, even though it rose by three tenths of a percent from September. Atlanta had the highest rate at 9.8 percent. That was two tenths of a percent higher than September, but a full percent lower than last year.

No states were allowed to publish local labor market data for September because of the federal government shutdown. During the interim, the rate for Atlanta fell from 7.9 percent in August to 7.4 percent for September.

The rate rose in October primarily for two reasons – an increase in new layoffs and an increase in the number of unemployed residents.

While the jobless rate was up, metro Atlanta employers continued to add jobs in October, up by 15,300 from September. Most of the new jobs were added in trade and transportation, 4.300; education and health care, 2,700; government, 1,800; manufacturing, 1,700; professional and business services, 1,300; leisure and hospitality, 1,200; and financial services, 1,100.