Alpharetta Still Lowest Unemployment Rate in Georgia

Alpharetta's unemployment rate held steady at 6.4 percent in January 2013, but increases in Roswell and Sandy Springs give it the lowest rate of  any city measured by the Georgia Department of Labor.

Alpharetta's revised unemployment rate for December 2012 was 6.4 percent. The city had 120 fewer people working – 29,984 – but the labor force was calculated to be 121 fewer people, so it balanced out.

The 6.4 percent preliminary rate in January 2013 for Alpharetta is lower than the rate a year ago, which was 6.7 percent.

City                     Rate
Alpharetta           6.4%
Johns Creek          7.0

Roswell                 6.5

Sandy Springs       6.5

Metro Atlanta        8.7

Georgia                8.7

The Georgia Department of Labor announced today that the unemployment rate in metro Atlanta rose to 8.7 percent in January, up three-tenths of a percentage point from 8.4 percent in December. The rate was 9.4 percent in January 2012.
Metro Atlanta started the year with 63,400 more jobs in January than a year ago.

The rate rose because of two primary factors – a loss of seasonal jobs and an increase in new layoffs, represented by initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits.

Over the year, jobs were up by 2.8 percent, from 2,299,500 in January 2012. Over-the-year job increases came mostly in professional and business services, 18,000; trade, transportation, and warehousing, 13,600; leisure and hospitality, 12,000; and healthcare and social assistance, 10,700.

Georgia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for January was 8.7 percent, unchanged from December. The rate was 9.3 percent in January a year ago.

Roswell – 6.5%

Roswell, which has the largest labor force in North Fulton above the Chattahoochee River, tied Sandy Springs for the second lowest unemployment rate at 6.5 percent. That was an increase of two tenths of a percent from December 2012. But, like most cities in Georgia, a year ago the unemployment rate was even higher at 6.8 percent.

Johns Creek – 7.0%

Johns Creek also saw a rise in unemployment in January, increasing one-tenth of a percent to 7 percent, compared to the revised rate of 6.9 percent for December 2012. The city's labor force dropped slightly to 37,644, not quite offsetting the loss of jobs by 140 people. A year ago the city's unemployment was higher at 7.3 percent.

Sandy Springs – 6.5%

Sandy Springs had 57,912 residents counted in the labor force in January, and 3,768 were counted as unemployed. That put the unemployment rate at 6.5 percent, a slight rise from December 2012's revised numbers at 6.3 percent. Again the January 2012 rate was even higher, at 7 percent.

Fulton County – 9.4%

Fulton County as a whole recorded a preliminary unemployment rate of 9.4 percent in January, rising from 9.2 percent in December 2012. The increase still didn't top the rate of a year ago, which hit 10.2 percent.

Georgia – 8.7%

Georgia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate held at 8.7 percent in January. The rate was considerably higher at 9.6 percent in January 2012.

The number of jobs n Metro Atlanta declined by 29,100, or 1.2 percent, from 2,392,000 in December 2012 to 2,362,900 in January.  However, metro Atlanta started the year with 63,400 more jobs in January than a year ago.

Local area unemployment data are not seasonally adjusted. Georgia labor market data are available at www.dol.state.ga.us