Employers in metro Atlanta created more jobs and laid off fewer workers in February, pushing down the area’s unemployment rate to 8.3 percent from 8.7 percent in January, the state labor department said Thursday.
The number of jobs in metro Atlanta increased by 6,400 in February, rising to 2,369,000 from January. Most of the growth came in professional and business services, where 5,000 jobs were created, and education and health care, which saw an increase of 2,500 jobs. Some seasonal jobs were lost in trade, transportation, and warehousing.
Over the past year, metro Atlanta added 57,800 jobs, pushing down a jobless rate that was 9.3 percent in February 2012. Most of the growth was in professional and business services — 19,000 jobs; trade, transportation, and warehousing — 11,200; leisure and hospitality — 10,900; and education and health care — 9,100. The number of government jobs declined by 4,000.
In February, fewer workers applied for unemployment insurance benefits, with the number of first-time claims falling by 12,497 from January. The decline came mostly in construction, manufacturing, trade, transportation, and warehousing, administrative and support services, and accommodations and food services.
For the core metro counties, Cobb and Gwinnett tied for the lowest jobless rates at 7.4 percent. DeKalb was next with 8.5 percent, followed by Fulton (8.9 percent) and Clayton (10.3 percent).
The city of Atlanta’s rate rose to 11.2 percent in February from 10.9 percent in January. But the rate improved from a year ago, when it was 12 percent.
Metro Athens had Georgia’s lowest area jobless rate at 6.1 percent, while the Heart of Georgia-Altamaha region had the highest area rate at 11.2 percent.
Last week, the state labor department said Georgia’s unemployment rate for February was 8.6 percent, down from 8.7 percent in January. Both the state and metro Atlanta continue to post a higher jobless rate than the national rate, currently 7.7 percent.
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