April jobless rates in metro Atlanta over the last decade:
20064.5
2007 4.0
2008 5.0
2009 9.0
2010 9.7
2011 9.5
2012 8.6
2013 7.6
2014 6.4
2015 5.6*
* - Preliminary
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
Hot sectors: metro Atlanta jobs created since April 2014:
- Trade, transportation and warehousing: 21,500
- Professional and business services: 18,800
- Leisure and hospitality: 13,300
- Education and health services: 10,700
- Construction: 6,000
Metro Atlanta’s unemployment rate dipped to a pre-recessionary 5.6 percent last month, with virtually every sector hiring robustly.
Construction — a bellwether due to its ripple effect across the economy — performed particularly well as hard-hatted workers swarmed stadiums, schools and subdivisions.
The rate dropped from 5.9 percent in March, falling to the lowest point since May 2008, the state labor department reported Thursday. The region also added 21,000 jobs in April. First-time claims for unemployment benefits fell 9 percent from April 2014.
Back then, the jobless rate stood at 6.4 percent. Atlanta now has almost matched the nation’s 5.4 percent unemployment rate, a critical marker for a regional economy that hasn’t fired on all post-recession cylinders. The state rate remains higher, at 6.3 percent.
“That recession was a long one, longer than probably anybody living can remember and Atlanta and Georgia went down pretty hard,” said Mike Dunham, CEO of the Associated General Contractors of Georgia.
“But we’re pretty happy with the signs we see now. When housing comes back, the retail sector returns. And there’s nothing like a couple billion dollars worth of sports stadiums to jump start the economy.”
Worries remain, though. The unemployment rate almost always heads down in the spring. Last year it dropped more than half a percentage point from March to April. The rate also heads up again in May as schools let out, bus drivers and cafeteria workers are temporarily let go and new graduates hit the job market.
And, prior to the recession, metro Atlanta’s jobless rate even settled in the 4 percent range for nearly two years.
Still, renewed building — stadiums for the Braves and the Falcons, Beltline condos and shops, apartments — has helped solidify a halting recovery.
A decade ago, more than 220,000 people were employed in construction in metro Atlanta, according to the labor department. Eighty thousand jobs disappeared within five years as home, office, school and retail construction crashed.
More than 156,000 people worked construction last month across the Atlanta region, up 6 percent from a year earlier.
“That’s the best job growth we’ve seen for the month of April since 1999,” Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said. “When you see construction picking up, you’re seeing higher demand for living, space, office space, retail space and that always leads to more jobs.”
It pays to specialize. Welders, with degrees from Chattahoochee Technical College and other trade schools, can start at $45,000 a year. Add overtime — pipeline companies across the country are desperate for help — and a welder can make good money.
Enrollment is rising at the two welding programs run by Chattahoochee Tech in Paulding and Pickens counties. Georgia Power, Trinity rail cars, Chart Industries and other manufacturers are hiring.
“We’re probably running double the number of students that we were five years ago,” said Shane Evans, director of corporate training for Chattahoochee Tech. “Students are being recruited while still in school. They’re even being recruited out of high school.”
Industrial maintenance — keeping a factory’s machines, motors and assembly lines running — is also a popular field as North Georgia manufacturing rebounds. And try hiring an HVAC technician or an old-fashioned carpenter.
“We are hiring. We are finding it difficult, too,” said Joe Tuggle, an executive vice president with Swofford Construction in Austell. Swofford builds and renovates schools, churches and industrial buildings.
“The qualified people are already working for somebody,” Tuggle continued. “And the younger generation is not getting into construction. Long term, the future is just as bad as it is right now.”
Construction wages are rising. More benefits are being offered. And talented craftsmen can job-switch at will. Expect more of the same in 2016, employers and experts say.
In the coming year Mercedes-Benz and State Farm will build corporate campuses. Sandy Springs plans a new downtown. The I-285/Ga. 400 interchange remake is scheduled to start.
“It will probably be a war for talent out there like you’ve never seen,” said Dunham, of the contractors’ association. “Anywhere you look it’s a very positive outlook for construction.”
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