Marietta Jobless Rate Falls to 9%

Marietta had 130 fewer unemployed residents in November than in October, cutting the city’s jobless rate to 9 percent, according to preliminary figures from the Georgia Department of Labor.

The city’s unemployment rate fell half a percentage point from . The rate was and in November 2010.

More than 300 additional Mariettans were working in November than in October—a total of 32,227 people with jobs in a workforce that grew to 35,431 from October's 35,247. That left 3,204 people officially on the unemployment rolls, compared with 3,334 a month earlier.

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The big improvement in November paralleled the gains for all of Cobb County and the Atlanta metro area as the local economy showed more life.

The county jobless rate dropped to 8.4 percent from 9.1 percent in October, 9.4 percent in September and 9.7 percent in November 2010.

The county and city numbers are not adjusted for seasonal factors.

But the numbers do reflect actual job growth in Cobb. According to the Labor Department figures, 3,300 more people were working in the county in November than in October, and the county added about 7,400 jobs in the past year.

For the official metro Atlanta area, the November rate was 9.2 percent, down from 9.9 percent in October and 10.2 percent in September and 10.3 percent in November 2010. That area covers Barrow, Bartow, Butts, Carroll, Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, Dawson, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Haralson, Heard, Henry, Jasper, Lamar, Meriwether, Newton, Paulding, Pickens, Pike, Rockdale, Spalding and Walton counties.

In the smaller area covered by the Atlanta Regional Commission—Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry and Rockdale counties—the jobless pattern was the same: 9.1 percent in November, down from 9.8 percent a month earlier and 10.2 percent a year ago.

Cobb’s rate remains lower than the state rate—a seasonally adjusted 9.9 percent in November, down from 10.2 percent in October and 10.4 percent in November 2010—and dropped below the seasonally adjusted national rate of 8.6 percent in November. The national rate was lower than Cobb’s in October (9 percent) but higher in November 2010 (9.8 percent).

The Atlanta metro area added 13,300 jobs in November, the Labor Department said. Most of those jobs were in private service-related industries, including professional and business services, trade, transportation, warehousing, education, health care and financial services.