The Georgia Department of Labor announced today that Metro Atlanta’s unemployment rate for October was 7.0 percent, down three-tenths of a percentage point from 7.3 percent in September. The rate in October of last year was 7.6 percent. 

The rate fell as Metro Atlanta added 18,800 jobs in October. The total number of jobs increased to 2,489,100, up from 2,470,300, or 0.8 percent, from September. The increase is 13 percent more jobs than the average September-to-October growth for the last three years. Much of the job gain came in trade, transportation and warehousing, which are the job sectors associated with holiday hiring, 9,100; professional and business services, 3,900; education and health services, 2,100; construction, 1,900; financial services, 1,300; and leisure and hospitality, 1,000.    

And, there was an over-the-year gain of 57,800 jobs, or 2.4 percent, from 2,431,300 in October 2013. The gains came in trade, transportation and warehousing, 18,600; professional and business services, 16,200; leisure and hospitality, 8,500; construction, 5,200; financial services, 4,700; manufacturing, 2,400; government, 2,000; and education and health services, 1,500.  

Also, there were 15,726 new claims for unemployment insurance filed in October, an increase of 1,494, or 10.5 percent, from 14,232 in September. Most of the increase in claims came in administrative and support services, wholesale and retail trade, finance and insurance, and manufacturing and construction. Over the year, claims were down by 3,694, or 19 percent, from 19,420 filed in October 2013.     

Metro Athens had the lowest area jobless rate at 5.4 percent, while the Heart of Georgia-Altamaha region had the highest at 9.3 percent. 

Meanwhile, Georgia’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate for October was 7.7 percent, down from 7.9 percent in September. It was 7.8 percent in October 2013. Georgia added 33,800 new jobs in October and 96,000 since October 2013, pushing its job total to 4,166,400, the largest number since May of 2008.