Metro Atlanta’s unemployment rate rises to 6.8%

The jobless rate in metro Atlanta moved up the ladder again in October, reaching 6.8 percent, the state Department of Labor said Wednesday.

Unemployment in September in the region had been 6.4 percent.

Over the past year, the change has been dramatic and the trend ominous: Metro Atlanta’s unemployment rate soared 55 percent from its 4.4 percent level during the same month of 2007.

Not surprisingly, the increase in Atlanta’s jobless rate parallels the state figure announced last week — 7 percent for October — since the region is the largest engine in the Georgia economy. The 28 counties that are counted as part of metro Atlanta add up to more than 60 percent of the state’s jobs.

The state and regional economies have been dragged down by the sag in real estate, the same sector that led growth after the crash of the telecom and Internet bubbles.

But during the past year, housing-related layoffs have spread across a wide spectrum of the economy to reach office work, hospitality, banking and government. Although metro Atlanta payrolls added 600 jobs from September to October, the region’s job market shrank 44,800 in the October-to-October period.

Statewide, the economy has shed 61,300 jobs in those 12 months while new claims for jobless benefits are about 75 percent above last year’s levels, said Michael Thurmond, state labor commissioner.

“Georgia’s economy continues to suffer from increasing job losses and rising unemployment.” Slightly more than 343,000 Georgians are jobless and searching for work, according to Thurmond.

The unemployment rate is generally considered a lagging indicator — the number typically does not peak until months or even years after an economic downturn.

And with evidence strong that the economy is continuing to slow, the jobless rate for both metro Atlanta and the state is expected to keep rising into 2009.

State unemployment will average 7.5 percent next year and 8 percent during 2010, according to the Georgia State Economic Forecasting Center.