Alpharetta's Jobless Rate Drops to 6.4 Percent

A smaller percentage of Alpharetta's labor force was jobless in September than August, and its 6.3 percent unemployment in September was the lowest in cities reported by the Georgia Department of Labor today.

Alpharetta's unemployment rate dropped fourth-tenths of a percentage point from August's revised rate of 6.7 percent.

Roswell's rate declined to 6.5 percent, which also was down four-tenths of a point from its revised August rate of 6.9 percent. Johns Creek had a bigger drop of five-tenths of a percentage point, but it still was the highest unemployment rate of North Fulton cities at 7.2 percent.

City                Labor Force   Rate

Alpharetta         31,281        6.3%

Johns Creek       36,814        7.2%

Roswell              49,385        6.5%

Sandy Springs    56,569        6.6%

County

Fulton             457,162        9.2%

Cherokee          114,187       6.7%

Forsyth              92,392        6.4%

Bartow               49,572        8.8%

The metro Atlanta unemployment rate also declined to 8.4 percent in September from a revised 8.8 percent in August.

While North Fulton's unemployment rate was relatively low, the overall Fulton County rate was much higher at 9.2 percent. Forsyth has the distinction of the lowest rate of nearby counties at 6.4 percent, with Cherokee County just slightly higher at 6.7 percent. Bartow County's 8.8 percent topped the metro Atlanta rate.

The metro Atlanta rate declined primarily because of 4,446 fewer layoffs in manufacturing, construction, trade, administrative and support services, and accommodations and food services, plus 31,606 more people were employed.

If you are looking for a job, you'll probably skip metro Dalton, which had the state's highest at 11.2 percent. That's 2.2 percent higher than Georgia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 9.0 percent in September.

While the state lost 400 jobs from August to September, it actually gained 61,800 jobs since the 3,877,600 in September of 2011, climbing to 3,939,400.
In metro Atlanta, the number of jobs decreased to 2,335,700 in September, down by 5,100 from August, but up by 31,400 from 2,304,300 in September 2011.