How does metropolitan Atlanta’s unemployment rate stack up against Southeastern competitors for jobs and industry? The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports jobless rates for 372 Metropolitan Statistical Areas across the United States.
MSA Rate Ranking
Memphis 8.9 percent 337
Atlanta 8 percent 307
Chattanooga 7.7 percent 291
Charlottte 6.8 percent 233
Tampa 6.8 percent 233
Birmingham 6.6 percent 204
Nashville 6.4 percent 185
Orlando 6.3 percent 170
Columbia 6 percent 148
Raleigh 5.6 percent 115
Note: July is most recent month for all metropolitan areas.
Virtually every second-tier Georgia city, except Athens, carries a disproportionately high unemployment rate. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports jobless rates for 372 Metropolitan Statistical Areas across the United States.
MSA Rate Ranking
Dalton 10.4 percent 361
Hinesville/Ft. Stewart 9.3 percent 350
Brunswick 9.2 percent 346
Albany 9.1 344
Columbus 9.1 344
Rome 9 percent 341
Macon 8.6 percent 330
Augusta 8 percent 307
Savannah 7.9 percent 304
Athens 6.6 percent 204
Note: July is most recent month for all metropolitan areas.
Metro Atlanta’s employment rate ticked up in August, the state labor department reported Thursday, as the region continues to lag Southern competitors.
The rate stands at 8 percent, up from 7.9 percent in July.
As the region muddles along, talented workers may find greater opportunities for employment in Southern cities such as Nashville, Charlotte and Tampa. The jobless rate in Raleigh, for example, was 5.6 percent in July, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In Dallas, it was 5.5 percent.
“Ten years ago the place to come to was Atlanta and maybe, somewhat, Charlotte,” said Betty McIntosh, a managing director in Atlanta for the real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield. “But these other cities are gaining ground in size and the type of companies they can attract. We’re just seeing a lot more competition now.”
Atlanta’s unemployed, though, can take solace that they’re not job-hunting in Georgia’s second-tier cities. The unemployment rate in Dalton, for example, was 10.4 percent in July. Across the state, in Brunswick, it was 9.2 percent. Only Athens, with a 6.6 percent rate, fared noticeably better than Atlanta.
“Most of Georgia’s economic areas are really lagging Atlanta,” said University of Georgia economist Jeff Humphreys. “High tech, advanced manufacturing and professional and business service jobs are all coming into metro Atlanta because they want a talented pool of workers and to be near Hartsfield airport.”
But Humphreys, like Gov. Nathan Deal and state labor commissioner Mark Butler, view Atlanta’s job prospects through decidedly rosier glasses than unemployment numbers provide. More than 51,000 jobs have been added to Atlanta payrolls the last year, the labor department reported, as the number of new claims for unemployment insurance dropped 15 percent.
Nearly 18,000 jobs were added in the catch-all professional and business services category during the last year: lawyers, accountants, engineers, secretaries, bill collectors and garbagemen. Warehousemen and truck drivers plumped Atlanta job rolls by 11,300. Hotels and restaurants chipped in another 8,500 jobs, according to the labor department.
The August-to-August job growth is the best since 2007, Butler said.
“All the numbers we want to see going in the right direction,” the commissioner added.
All but the unemployment rate which has risen four consecutive months. Georgia’s overall rate — 8.1 percent — is the worst in the nation.
Mark Vitner, a senior economist at Wells Fargo in Charlotte, discounts the Georgia and Atlanta jobless rates as lagging economic indicators and "simply wrong."
“I have a very high degree of confidence that Georgia’s economy has improved over the last year, whether it’s by measuring housing permits, home sales or anecdotal data we get on retail sales,” he added. “The unemployment rate is the odd man out. It doesn’t reflect what’s going on in the real world.”
The Bureau of Labor Statistics, though, calculates the jobless rate the same way whether it’s metro Atlanta, Dallas or Orlando. And each Southern city, save Memphis at 8.9 percent, logged much lower jobless rates than Atlanta. In fact, of the nation’s 372 metropolitan areas, Atlanta ranked No. 307.
Job growth in Atlanta over the last year reached two percent. Austin, Orlando, Raleigh and Houston topped three percent.
“We have Atlanta continuing in the same vein next year,” said Jon Southard, an economist with CB Richard Ellis, the commercial real estate services firm. “Total employment will improve a little bit, but it won’t really catch up to the high-tech markets or some of the other markets that have had strong growth recently.”
McIntosh, with Cushman & Wakefield, says Atlanta needs to get its mojo back.
“Atlanta certainly is, and has been for ever, the Big City in the South, the magnet for young people,” she said. “There’s still a lot of energy here. But we have got to have jobs for them.”
