Metro Atlanta unemployment rises to 10.5 percent

By Michael E. Kanell

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The metro Atlanta job market continued to worsen last month, with jobs evaporating and the rising tide of laid-off workers unable to find work, state officials said Thursday.

The unemployment rate rose to 10.5 percent in September, up from 10.3 percent in August and from 6.7 percent a year ago, according to the state Labor Department.

Economists say the rate is only a rough guide to the labor picture since it does not include people who return to school, leave town or stop looking for work altogether.

Other measures also paint a picture of pessimism.

Metro Atlanta has lost 142,800 payroll jobs in the past 12 months – a reduction of 5.8 percent, or one in every 17 positions. An estimated 277,782 workers in metro Atlanta do not have work and are looking for a job, the Labor Department said.

Atlanta’s economic hemorrhage parallels that of the state, which has bled 5.8 percent of its jobs in the past year. Metro Atlanta's jobless rate is third-highest in the state, behind Dalton at 12.4 percent and Rome at 11.1 percent.

Unemployment in Georgia has been higher than the national average for 23 consecutive months.

Some signs of recovery have been evident in broader business indicators, but not in hiring: The number of job openings in late summer reached a new low, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

And layoffs – while down from last winter – are still painfully high. Last week, about 531,000 Americans filed for initial jobless benefits, up slightly from the week before.

Nearly 6 million Americans are receiving unemployment benefits.