The metro Atlanta unemployment rate fell to 5.7 percent in August, the region’s lowest rate since May 2008.
The rate was 7.3 percent a year ago and 6.1 percent in July. Last month’s drop came partly on the strength of back-to-school hiring that added 4,800 jobs to the economy.
“Mostly it has to do with the Atlanta area’s doing really well when it comes to job gains,” Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said. “And we are seeing fewer individuals laid off.”
Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell 10 percent in August from a year earlier, Butler said.
Hiring was strongest in education and local government, as schools swung back into session, as well as in health care. Construction jobs also grew, boosted by big projects like the new Braves and Falcons stadiums, in addition to a modest rebound in home building.
The jobless rate typically dips in August, but the drop this time was about twice the average.
One factor was a shrinking labor force, down 30,000 in August from July. Fewer people actively looking for work — whether due to retirement, frustration or other reasons — can reduce the official jobless rate.
That helps explain why the rate is continuing to slide despite slower hiring growth over the past year.
In the 12 months ended in August 2014, the metro economy added 102,300 jobs – the best number of the period of the past 25 years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In the same period ended last month, the metro Atlanta economy added 66,400 jobs.
Metro Atlanta accounts for about 60 percent of the state’s jobs overall, but has provided 80 percent of the past year’s growth.
The metro jobless rate peaked at 10.6 percent in the aftermath of the recession.
For decades prior to that, Atlanta and Georgia were among national leaders in job growth and low unemployment. Now, even with recent sharp improvement, the region and state remain significantly above the 5.1 percent national average.
The metro Atlanta jobless rate has been below the national average in just one month since 2007.
Despite population growth and a four-year-old job recovery, the metro labor force is only a little larger now than it was more than seven years ago.
A study by the Federal Reserve says about one-third of departures are retiring baby boomers. But the rest? No one really knows.
When the job market was miserable, it could make economic sense to go back to school, take early retirement, stay home with children or hang out a shingle as a self-employed consultant.
But the economy got back on its feet, the hiring has been pretty steady and labor force growth has not rebounded.
Economists continue to debate the reasons, with theories ranging from the changing nature of work to antiquated survey methods that may be skewing metrics.
