Sandy Springs Jobless Rate Climbs to 6.4 Percent

The city of Sandy Springs saw an increase in its unemployment rate last month, according to preliminary figures released by the Georgia Department of Labor.

The city’s rate rose to 6.4 percent in July, up from 5.9 in June. Last month’s rate is the same figure recorded for the city in July 2013. Fulton County also saw its rate climb in July to 8.7 percent from 8.3 percent in June. The county’s rate in July 2013 was 8.9 percent.

Sandy Springs and Fulton’s unemployment rates climbed along with the metro Atlanta jobless rate. The metro rate rose another half-percentage point in July, reaching 8.0 percent for the first time in months.

The Georgia Department of Labor said the increase was primarily due to seasonal factors, such as layoffs in educational services and manufacturing.

But the department also pointed out that most of those workers have now returned to work.

The unemployment rate in July 2013 was 8.3 in metro Atlanta.

There were 2,461,200 jobs in Atlanta in July, down by 2,700, or 0.1 percent, from June. Most of those losses came in local government.

However, the labor department also said private-sector employers created 8,900 jobs in July in the region.

Georgia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for July was 7.8 percent, up from 7.4 percent in June.
Metro Athens had the lowest area jobless rate at 6.6 percent, while the Heart of Georgia-Altamaha region had the highest at 11.4 percent.

Local area unemployment data are not seasonally adjusted. Georgia labor market data are available at www.gdol.ga.gov.

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