Metro region’s jobless rate rises

Metro Atlanta’s unemployment rate rose to 9.4 percent in December from 9.2 percent in November, the state Labor Department said Thursday.

A year ago, the jobless rate for the region was 10.1 percent.

Layoffs in construction, manufacturing, retail trade, administrative and support services, and accommodations and food services fueled the increase in unemployment from November, the Labor Department said.

For the core metro counties, Clayton posted the highest jobless rate at 11.8 percent, followed by Fulton (9.8 percent), DeKalb (9.7 percent), Cobb (8.5 percent) and Gwinnett (8.4 percent).

In the city of Atlanta, the jobless rate rose to 10.6 percent in December from 10.3 percent in November. A year ago, it was 11.3 percent.

Last week, the Labor Department reported that Georgia’s jobless rate declined in December for the third straight month, dropping to 9.7 percent from 9.8 percent in November. The state’s jobless rate was 10.4 percent in December 2010.

Both the metro area and state rates are considerably higher than the nation’s, which is currently 8.5 percent.

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