Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said Atlanta set more records in February as all of its critical job measures trended in the right direction again. 

Butler noted jobs, employed residents, and labor force all increased. At the same time,  unemployment claims dropped.

“It’s good to see we picked up this year right where we left off from 2017,” Butler said. “I expect Georgia will have a very good 2018. And, it’s great to see so many of our local communities have gotten off to a good start.” 

In February, the number of employed residents in the Atlanta area, at 2.97 million, was another record for the region. The area added 46,862 employed residents over the month and 116,029 for the year.

Jobs climbed by 20,800 to 2.73 million in February. The change over the past 12 months was 52,600.

The following sectors reported monthly job growth: 

• Leisure and hospitality, 4,800

• Professional and business services, 4,800

• Education and health, 3,500

• Construction, 3,400, and

• Government, 2,500. 

The Atlanta labor force ended February at 3.1 million – a record for metro Atlanta. That number is up 48,297 over the month and up 97,914 over the past 12 months.

At the same time, the jobless rate held at 4.3 percent in February. A year ago, the jobless rate was 5 percent. Georgia’s 14 metropolitan statistical areas (MSA) had unemployment rates that varied from a low of 3.6 percent in Gainesville to Dalton’s 5.5 percent. 

Initial claims for unemployment were down about 36 percent for the month and about 5 percent for the year.

Counties included in the MSA are Barrow, Bartow, Butts, Carroll, Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, Dawson, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Haralson, Heard, Henry, Jasper, Lamar, Meriwether, Morgan, Newton, Paulding, Pickens, Pike, Rockdale, Spalding and Walton. 

Employ Georgia, the GDOL’s online job listing service at employgeorgia.com showed 34,581 new active job postings in metro Atlanta for February.

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