Georgia's October Unemployment Rate Ties All-Time Low

GEORGIA — Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said Thursday that Atlanta set a series of records in October.

Atlanta, according to preliminary numbers, posted new highs in employment, work force and jobs. The unemployment rate was unchanged across the 29-county metropolitan statistical area.

“In October we had eight local communities set a total of 13 new records,” Butler said. “We increased jobs, employment and added to our labor force in virtually all of our major markets.”

Nationally, the unemployment rate climbed in October to 3.6 percent, an increase of 0.1 percentage points. The nation also grew its labor force by 325,000, increased employment by 241,000 and added more 125,000 jobs.

Georgia’s unemployment rate, meanwhile, fell in October by 0.1 percentage points to 3.4 percent. That tied Georgia’s all-time low set in December 2000.

Rates fell or held steady across all 11 of Georgia’s 14 metropolitan statistical areas. Four set a record for lowest rate ever.

In Atlanta, the unemployment rate remained unchanged during October at 2.9 percent. A year ago, the rate was 3.6 percent.

Atlanta ended October with a record 2.87 million jobs – a new record. That’s an increase of about 23,000 in October. Jobs climbed by nearly 60,000 as compared to a year ago.

The labor force increased in October by 13,265, bringing the total to 3.09 million – a new record high. That number is up by 25,070 from the total of October 2018.

Atlanta ended October with 3 million employed residents – a new record high. The number increased by 13,806 in October and was up by 45,593 over October 2018’s total.

The number of unemployment claims went up in October by about 24 percent and were up by about .5 percent from the same period last year.

Counties included in the metropolitan statistical area are Barrow, Bartow, Butts, Carroll, Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, Dawson, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Haralson, Heard, Henry, Jasper, Lamar, Meriwether, Morgan, Newton, Paulding, Pickens, Pike, Rockdale, Spalding and Walton.

Employ Georgia, the Georgia Department of Labor's online job listing service at employgeorgia.com showed 67,271 active job postings in metro Atlanta for October.