Business & Tech

Smyrna's Jobless Rate Rises Slightly to 6.9% in March

The Jonquil City's unemployment rate was 7.8 percent in March a year ago.

The Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL) announced Thursday that metro Atlanta’s unemployment rate declined to 6.8 percent in March, down one-tenth of a percentage point from 6.9 percent in February.

The rate was 8.0 percent in March a year ago.

Smyrna is included in GDOL's metro Atlanta statistics and the unemployment rate is not seasonally adjusted. Last week, GDOL said the state's unemployment rate declined to 7.0 percent in March from 7.1 percent in February to hit the lowest level since September 2008.

See here for Cobb's jobless rate numbers.

Both the state and metro Atlanta trail the national rate, which is at 6.7 percent. 

Smyrna's unemployment rate for March was 6.9 percent, which is up two-tenths of a percentage point from its 6.7 percent revised February figure. The rate was 7.8. percent in March a year ago. 

The rate declined in metro Atlanta because employers created more jobs and laid off fewer workers.

The number of jobs increased to 2,427,100 in March, up by 17,500, or 0.7 percent, from 2,409,600 in February. Most of the job gains came in leisure and hospitality, 6,200; professional and business services, 5,900; trade, transportation and warehousing, 3,700; construction, 900; government, 800; and information services, 700.

Over the year, the number of jobs increased by 51,500, or a 2.2 percent increase, from 2,375,600 jobs in March 2013. The big job gainers were trade, transportation and warehousing, 16,400; professional and business services, 12,700; leisure and hospitality, 10,500; construction, 6,000;  education and health services, 5,300; and information services, 1,200. Government lost 2,300 jobs.

There were 13,982 new claims for unemployment insurance filed in March, a drop of 3,915, or 21.9 percent, from 17,897 in February. Most of the decline in claims came in construction, 1,114; manufacturing, 1,014; and administrative and support services, 619. There were 17,222 claims filed in March 2013.

Metro Athens had the lowest area jobless rate at 5.1 percent, while the Heart of Georgia-Altamaha region had the highest at 9.4 percent.

Meanwhile, Georgia’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate for March was 7.0 percent, down from 7.1 percent in February. The rate was 8.4 percent in March a year ago.

Local area unemployment data are not seasonally adjusted. Georgia labor market data are available at www.employgeorgia.com


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