Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said Thursday that Atlanta set in August a record for total jobs.

At the same time, the 29-county metropolitan statistical area (MSA) saw its unemployment rate fall and the number of claims shrink.  

All indicators still remain positive for the year.

"Our communities across the state continue to thrive,” Butler said. “Local economies continue to add jobs and see other indicators like employment and labor force grow over time.  It has become almost routine for some of our local areas set records.” 

The August unemployment rate fell to 3.6 percent – tied for third among all 14 MSAs in Georgia. That’s down 0.2 percent from the previous month and down from 4.7 percent one year ago. 

The labor force decreased in August by 42,017 to reach 3.1 million total members.  The number has climbed by nearly 48,000 over the past 12 months. 

Atlanta lost 34,137 employed residents in August, dropping its total to just under 3 million. That number has grown by about 80,000 over the past year.  

Atlanta saw jobs increase by 14,900 in August to reach 2.8 million, a new record. This puts Atlanta up 53,700 jobs for the year. 

Initial claims for unemployment down by about 12 percent for the month and are down by about 13 percent when compared to the same period a year ago.   

Employ Georgia, the GDOL’s online job listing service at employgeorgia.com showed 55,085 active job postings in metro Atlanta for August.

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.