Wednesday, August 1, 2001

County's unemployment rate is on the rise

State Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond announced that the unemployment rate in the metro Atlanta area increased five-tenths percent in June to 3.5 percent, up from 3 percent in May. The area's jobless rate was 3.6 percent in June of 2000.

Locally, Fayette County didn't escape the downturn as its rate rose from 1.7 percent to 1.9 percent.

The rate was up in June because some manufacturing and construction workers were laid off and more people entered the job market.

Georgia's unemployment rate increased six-tenths percent in June to 4.1 percent, matching its highest level in nearly a year. The rate was up from 3.5 percent in May. It was 4.4 percent in June of 2000.

"The combination of layoffs and slowing job growth are having an impact," Thurmond said.

"We've experienced a net loss of 20,000 manufacturing jobs over the past year and many of those workers are in retraining or still trying to find replacement jobs.

"Added to that are 25,000 more people entering the job market. Many of the new job seekers are students and other secondary wage earners looking for seasonal employment, or recent high school and college graduates entering the job market. The slowing economy makes it more difficult to accommodate them."

The number of jobs in Atlanta rose to 2,241,900 in June, up by 33,700 from June 2000.

The area's annualized rate of job growth slowed to 1.5 percent, down from 3.6 percent from June 1999 to June 2000. In the one-month period from May to June, the number of jobs increased by 5,500, or two-tenths percent. Most of the increase was in trade and services.

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