More people are without a job in Atlanta, and they aren’t having very much luck when it comes to searching for a new position.
In August, the City of Atlanta had an unemployment rate of 6.3 percent, up from 6.1 percent in July and higher than the national unemployment rate of 6.1 percent. The city had a total non-farm employment of 2,449,800, a decrease of .8 percent from last year, but higher than July’s employment of 2,439,900, according to the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In addition to the increase in unemployment, the state as a whole announced last week that in September it had 56,652 workers who had been laid off file first time claims for unemployment insurance benefits. This is an increase of 76.3 percent from last year, according to an article by the Georgia Department of Labor.
During the first nine months of 2008, 466,756 filed claims for unemployment insurance, an increase of 38.3 percent from the 336,286 claims filed during the same time last year.
“For the second consecutive month, initial claims have risen by more than 70 percent over the year,” State Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond said in the article. “Georgia is in the midst of a challenging economic environment.
“The Georgia Department of Labor has shifted to 10-hour work days, so that we can more effectively serve job seekers and employers,” Thurmond added. “I want to reaffirm our commitment to do everything we can to assist jobless Georgians who are looking for work.”
Georgia has been hit hard by layoffs during the past year, especially in the manufacturing, construction, trade and service industries. Because of this, 88,121 people were receiving unemployment benefits in September, an increase of 53 percent from 57,629 last year.
Among Georgia’s major metropolitan areas, the following have seen an increase from last year in claims for unemployment insurance:
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