Some of the sectors adding jobs in October:
Retail, 7,600
Food services and drinking places, 4,000
Accounting, tax prep, bookkeeping, 3,600
Local government, 3,600
Adminstration and support, 3,300
source: Georgia Department of Labor
With the second best month of job growth in a decade, metro Atlanta’s unemployment rate dipped from 5.5 percent to 5.4 percent in October, the state labor department said.
During the month, the metro area added 32,400 jobs – the most since February, 2011 — while the region’s jobless rate slid to its lowest level since the early days of the Great Recession in 2008.
“Atlanta had a very good month in October for job growth,” said Mark Butler, state labor commissioner. “We are seeing very good growth in several sectors.”
Among data indicating a strengthening market: the jobless rate came down even as more people entered the labor force – unlike many months when the rate reflected weak hiring, but a shrinking labor force.
October hiring was broad-based. The economy added jobs in retail, business services, education, health services and local government, as well as leisure and hospitality.
The growth of the healthcare sector in metro Atlanta has combined with the continued advance of technology to create opportunities for companies that can help hospitals, clinics and professionals. That means demand for staffing companies that place nurses, software experts and firms supplying analysis and advice.
Alpharetta-based Wellcentive, a sort of technology-based consulting company, has more than 130 employees and has been steadily growing, said vice president Richard Walsh.
“We expect that to be at about 200 in a year,” he said.
New employees fall into two categories, Walsh said: techies – “interface people” – and people who analyze data and give smart advice.
“We are hiring lots of young, vibrant, hungry and capable analysts,” he said, adding many are younger than 30 and most are local.
During the past year, metro Atlanta has added 88,100 jobs – 91 percent of the state’s total.
Hiring appeared to be heavy on lower-paying jobs, but a variety of areas added positions.
Among the strongest performers over the year were the corporate sector, which added 25,500 jobs; retail, which expanded by 12,000; and leisure and hospitality, which added 12,200.
Government was a mixed bag: Local government expanded by 7,900 positions and state level positions were up 1,400 slots, but the federal government lost 700 jobs.
Metro Atlanta’s jobless rate is still higher than the 5.0 percent national average. But it is down from 6.5 percent in October 2014. The metro county with the lowest rate was Forsyth, where unemployment was 4.4 percent, the highest was Clayton, with 7.1 percent.
Among the other core counties, Cobb unemployment was 4.8 percent, Gwinnet was 5.0 percent, Fulton was 5.6 percent and DeKalb was 5.7 percent.
New claims for unemployment insurance rose, a sign of more layoffs. Yet the number of unemployed workers was down – and that’s a sign that hiring was soaking up many jobseekers.
Atlanta’s jobless rate hit a high of 10.6 percent in 2010. Even after the following five years of improvement, there are still more people unemployed and fewer people in the workforce than before recession.
