Metro Atlanta
One-month job gain or loss, past 13 months*
2013
Apr … 8,335
May … 10,690
Jun … -11,101
Jul … 14,695
Aug … -9,584
Sep … 554
Oct … -1,212
Nov … 33,149
Dec … 6,165
2014
Jan … -5,328
Feb … -4,485
Mar … 15,386
Apr … 1,271
Sources: Georgia Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics
*Job data for May due later this month.
Hiring in metro Atlanta will continue at a modest but steady pace, according to a quarterly survey by a national staffing company.
Exactly one-quarter of area companies surveyed said they planned to hire more employees during the coming three months, while 6 percent said they would be cutting staff, according to the Manpower Group.
The hiring figure was up slightly from last quarter and nearly identical to a year ago, Manpower spokesperson Judy Leppla said.
The company calculates a “net employment outlook,” that is, the difference between the percentage of companies that plan to hire and the percentage that plan to cut. That figure has been positive and relatively steady.
After several years of hemorrhaging jobs, hiring in metro Atlanta began to pick up in early 2010. Since then, the expansion has slowly trimmed unemployment. But neither the number of jobs, nor the number of people in the labor force has returned to pre-recession peaks.
Since early 2010, metro Atlanta has added 170,268 jobs, including an estimated 12,172 jobs in the past three months, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. During the past year, the Atlanta economy has expanded by 44,274 jobs.
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate in metro Atlanta has slipped to 6.5 percent. The number of unemployed job seekers has fallen to 178,629, down 29,783 from a year ago, according to the government.
According to Manpower, the financial sector was the most likely to cut jobs. Sectors with the best prospects for hiring included construction, education, leisure and hospitality and retail, Manpower said
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