The Georgia Department of Labor announced today that Metro Atlanta’s unemployment rate for August was 8.0 percent, up one-tenth of a percentage point from 7.9 percent in July. The rate in August of last year was also 7.9 percent. 

Despite the rate increase, the number of jobs in Metro Atlanta increased by 5,900 to 2,470,600, up 0.2 percent from 2,464,700 in July, while the number of initial claims for unemployment insurance dropped 22.9 percent from July. 

The monthly job gains were in state and local government, 6,900; private education and health services, 4,000; manufacturing, 500; and construction and other services, 400 each. 

There was a strong over-the-year job growth of 51,400 jobs, or 2.1 percent, from 2,419,200 in August 2013. This was the second largest August-to-August growth since 2007. The primary growth was in professional and business services, 17,600; trade, transportation and warehousing, 11,300; leisure and hospitality, 8,500; manufacturing, 4,900; construction, 3,800; financial services, 3,600; information services, 2,000; and private education and health services, 1,300. Government jobs were unchanged over the year at 311,700.   

Also, there were 14,862 new claims for unemployment insurance filed in August, a decrease of 4,409, from 19,271 in July. Most of the decrease in claims came in manufacturing and administrative services. Over the year, claims were down 15.4 percent from the 17,563 claims filed in August 2013.    

Metro Athens had the lowest area jobless rate at 6.4 percent, while metro Dalton had the highest at 10.7 percent. 

Meanwhile, Georgia’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate for August was 8.1 percent, up from a revised 7.7 percent in July. It was 8.2 percent in August 2013.