The metro Atlanta unemployment rate fell in March to 4.6 percent from 4.9 percent in February, the state Labor Department reported Thursday.
After seven years of job growth, the metro jobless rate has fallen back below the level of Dec. 2007, the month that the Great Recession began. Since hitting bottom, the economy has added 489,000 jobs, and while the workforce has grown too, it has grown by less than half that – the basic formula for cutting the unemployment rate.
Last week, the government reported that the state's jobless rate had declined to 5.1 percent.
Here are seven talking points to help you sound smart around the water cooler this morning:
1. It's about short-term progress.
A year ago, the jobless rate for metro Atlanta was 5.1 percent. Five years ago, it was 9.0 percent. (And two years before that, 10.6 percent).
2. It's about people getting hired.
In March, the metro economy added 9,800 jobs.
3. It's about longer term trends.
And yes, the longer trend has been positive: during the past year, the metro Atlanta economy has added 103,100 jobs.
4. It's about people who are not getting hired.
Roughly 140,000 people in metro Atlanta are counted as unemployed – that is, they are out of work and also looking for a job. That is more than at the start of the recession, but compare it to seven years ago when the region started the year with 295,009 unemployed. (See point number one, above.)
On the other hand, roughly 30 percent of the jobless have been looking for more than six months.
STORY AND SHORT VIDEO: What’s going on with unemployment and hiring in Georgia.
5. It's about growing sectors.
According to the Labor Department, among the sectors adding jobs last month, the strongest was leisure and hospitality, bouncing back from a weak start to the year with a robust 3,900 new jobs.
Not far behind was construction, up a solid 2,700 jobs. Second-best was the corporate sector, known as professional and business services, which was up 1,800 jobs. In third place was information, up 1,100 jobs.
6. It's about the weak spots.
The vaunted and often-discussed manufacturing sector lost 800 jobs. The education and health sector lost 500 jobs.
7. It's about having things to worry about.
Need something to fret about? Worry that there might be a trade war with Mexico or Canada, since trade with those countries alone supports tens of thousands of jobs in Atlanta.
Worry about robots taking our manufacturing jobs.
Worry about consumer spending. After all, many of the new jobs are in sectors that do not pay so well, like leisure and hospitality.
Oh, and while you are in a worrying mood, worry about the Braves. Could be a long season.
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Metro Atlanta, Unemployment rate, March
2007 3.9 percent
2008 5.1 percent
2009 9.3 percent
2010 10.2 percent
2011 9.7 percent
2012 9.0 percent
2013 7.8 percent
2014 7.0 percent
2015 5.7 percent
2016 5.1 percent
2017 4.6 percent
Sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Georgia Department of Labor
