Metro Atlanta’s unemployment rate rose to 7.6 percent in June from 7.2 percent in May, primarily because of summer layoffs of some school employees, as well as students and graduates looking for summertime or permanent jobs, the state labor department said Thursday.
There were 2,460,900 jobs in metro Atlanta in June — down by 4,000 from May. Virtually all of the loss came in public and private educational services, along with social assistance, which includes pre-school and daycare centers.
Also, there were 17,666 new claims for unemployment insurance filed in June — an increase of 2,085 from May. Of that increase, 667 claims were in manufacturing, largely due to temporary layoffs.
On the positive side, there has been a gain of 58,300 new jobs over the past year. That helped bring the unemployment rate down from 8.6 percent in June 2013.
Still, metro Atlanta’s rate, as well as Georgia’s rate of 7.4 percent, significantly trail the national rate of 6.1 percent.
During the past year, professional and business services in metro Atlanta gained 16,700 new jobs. Trade, transportation and warehousing added 15,800 jobs; leisure and hospitality — 11,800; construction — 5,600; manufacturing — 3,800; financial services — 3,300; information services — 2,600; and education and health services — 2,000.
Government lost 900 jobs since June 2013.
Of the core metro Atlanta counties, Gwinnett posted the lowest jobless rate at 6.8 percent. Cobb was next at 6.9 percent, followed by DeKalb (7.8 percent), Fulton (8.4 percent) and Clayton (9.4 percent).
Statewide, metro Athens had the lowest area jobless rate at 6.3 percent, while the Heart of Georgia-Altamaha region had the highest at 10.4 percent.
