Friday, May 4, 2001

Unemployment rates rising

Fulton County's unemployment rate is on the rise.

In statistics released alst week, Fulton's rate rose from 3.5 percent in February to 3.6 percent in March. The rate is the same as last March's rate and State Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond said that the unemployment rate in the metropolitan Atlanta area remained steady at 3.1 percent.

Meanwhile, Georgia's unemployment rate rose in March, for the third consecutive month, to 3.7 percent. The rate is up from a revised 3.6 percent in February. While the rate is below the 3.9 percent in March of 2000, it is up seven-tenths percent since the first of this year.

"The increase in the state's rate is primarily the result of layoffs in manufacturing and construction," said Thurmond. "This is further evidence that our state's economy continues to cool."

In March, Georgia added 22,700 new jobs, with 11,000 of those in retail trade and 10,800 in business services, amusement parks and recreational centers, lodging places, hospitals and health care, and engineering and management services. In metro Atlanta, job growth has slowed from 5.2 percent last year at this time to 1.6 percent. The total number of new jobs added has declined from more than 100,000 to 34,000.

The total number of jobs in Georgia in March was 4,038,400, up from 4,015,700 in February. A total of 3,971,600 jobs were reported in March of 2000. The rate of yearly job growth in Georgia has slowed from 4.2 percent to 1.7 percent in the past year.

Labor market data are now available on the Georgia Department of Labor's Web site at www.dol.state.ga.us.

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