Metro jobless rate tumbles in April

By Dan Chapman

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Metro Atlanta’s unemployment rate dropped from 10.4 percent in March to 9.8 percent in April – the largest point decline in 12 years.

Hold the champagne, though. Economists expect the rate to inch back up. But the surprisingly robust job news released Thursday by the Georgia Department of Labor bolstered widespread sentiment that the recession is fading.

“It’s great news, by far the strongest unemployment report we’ve had since prior to the recession,” said Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond. “But I’m a little gun-shy after what we’ve been through. Don’t break out into a chorus of ‘Happy Days Are Here Again.’ Not yet.”

Thurmond took particular pleasure in the types of jobs – private vs. government – created. Businesses were responsible for roughly 17,300 of the 18,100 new jobs added across the 28-county metro Atlanta region.

Nurses and bellhops found a lot of work in April. So did construction workers and trash haulers.

Not since May 2009, when the rate was 9.2 percent, has Atlanta’s jobless rate dipped below double digits. And first-time claims for unemployment insurance decreased 14.4 percent across Atlanta.

In spring 1998, with Atlanta’s post-Olympics economy roaring, the unemployment rate dropped from 3.5 percent to 2.9 percent. Jobs were as easy to come by as division championships for the Atlanta Braves.

In all, 2,265,000 Atlantans now have jobs. A year earlier, 2,311,000 did. But Atlanta is starting to rebound.

“I’m confident that the job growth is now accompanying the growth in output we’ve enjoyed for three quarters,” said Jeffrey Humphreys, . “So the economic recovery is broadening. And the recovery is more than just the federal government pushing the economy forward.”

Humphreys wasn’t surprised by April’s addition of 2,000 construction jobs. Building permits for single-family homes in Georgia rose 30 percent during the first quarter of 2010, he said.

The leisure and hospitality industries added 6,400 jobs in April. Stone Mountain Park, for example, hired 250 seasonal workers – cooks, ticket-takers, campground workers -- in March and April. Michael Dombrowski, the park’s human resources director, said the quantity and caliber of applicants has management filling permanent positions too.

“At this point last year, I don’t think anybody was willing to do that,” he said. “But things are thawing and we’ve started to make some strategic, well-placed hires.”

Economists, though, predict many of the newly created jobs – from temp slots at amusement parks to U.S. Census Bureau enumerators – will evaporate as summer heats up.

“I caution that the unemployment rate has not peaked yet, but that’s not because the economy is going to get worse,” Humphreys said. “All of the people who were discouraged and gave up looking for work will start to pour back into the employment market. But that’s normal for an economic recovery.”