Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said Thursday that Atlanta posted a strong June with growth in most key measures.
 
Atlanta, according to preliminary numbers, added employed residents, labor force and jobs. Unemployment claims also fell in June across the 29-county metropolitan statistical area (MSA).
 
“June was a very strong month for Georgia,” Butler said. “A number of local communities set records as the state added more than 20,000 jobs. Plus, we continued to add to our labor force and see the number of unemployment claims fall. Our local communities continue to prosper.”

Atlanta ended June with 2.84 million jobs. That’s an increase of about 7,600 in June. Jobs climbed by 53,500 as compared to a year ago.
 
Nationally, the unemployment rate inched up 0.1 percentage points in June to reach 3.7 percent. Georgia’s rate dropped 0.1 percentage points to settle at 3.7 percent.
 
In Atlanta, the unemployment rate rose in June, increasing by 0.4 percentage points to settle at 3.7 percent. A year ago, the rate was 4.2 percent.
 
The labor force increased in June by 19,430 to reach 3.09 million. That number is up by 13,793 from the total of June 2018.
 
Atlanta ended June with 2.97 million employed residents.  The number climbed by 7,490 in June and was down by 666 over June 2018’s total.
 
The number of unemployment claims went down in June by about 8 percent and were down by about 16 percent from the same period last 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.