State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said that metro Atlanta hit an all-time record in October for the total number of jobs.

The 29-county metro area preliminarily posted 2,774,000 jobs in October, up by 19,700 from a revised 2,754,300 in September. The previous record high was a revised 2,759,500 recorded in June.   

While the labor force and number of employed residents declined in October, other economic indicators were up over the past year.

“Metro Atlanta is a growing, dynamic job market and is producing some strong economic numbers,” Butler said. “This is a continuation of a great year for metro Atlanta, which continues to be one of the top job-producing regions in the entire country.”

The number of employed residents rose by 100,138 to 2,919,796 since October of last year. At the same time, the labor force, which is the total number of residents with jobs plus those who are unemployed but looking for work, rose by 71,186 to 3,046,032.

Job growth came mostly in education and health services, 4,800; trade, transportation and warehousing, 3,700; and construction, 2,800.

Since October 2016, metro Atlanta has added 65,800 jobs, a 2.4 percent growth rate. Job growth has come in professional and business services, 24,600; education and health services, 10,000; leisure and hospitality, 7,300; and, government, 7,200. Manufacturing lost 1,000 jobs.  

Butler said Wednesday that in October the unemployment rate, at 4.1 percent, was up slightly from 4 percent in September. The October rate compares favorably to last October when the rate was 5.2 percent.

Unemployment claims were up by 10.6 percent, to 11,474. Claims were up in a number of industries, including trade, transportation and warehousing, finance and insurance, professional and technical services, and health care and social assistance.   Still, compared to last October claims were down by 0.6 percent from 11,542.

“While claims are up for the month, they remain lower than they were at this time last year,” Butler noted. “The trend is headed in the right direction. That’s always going to be more important than any single month."