Politics & Government

Kennesaw Unemployment Falls to 9.7%

The improvement in the jobless rate for city residents matched the gains across Cobb County.

Kennesaw gained more than 150 jobs in November, driving down the city’s unemployment rate by seven-tenths of a point, according to preliminary figures from the Georgia Department of Labor.

The city’s jobless rate was 9.7 percent in November, down from a and and from 11.2 percent a year earlier, when about 350 fewer city residents had jobs.

The big improvement in November matched the gains for Cobb County and the Atlanta metro area as the local economy showed more life.

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The county jobless rate dropped to 8.4 percent from 9.1 percent in October, 9.4 percent in September and 9.7 percent in November 2010.

The county and city numbers are not adjusted for seasonal factors.

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But the numbers do reflect actual job growth in Cobb. According to the Labor Department figures, 3,300 more people were working in the county in November than in October, and the county added about 7,400 jobs in the past year.

Cobb County’s good job news matched the improvement for the official metro Atlanta area, where the November rate was 9.2 percent, down from 9.9 percent in October and 10.2 percent in September and 10.3 percent in November 2010. That area covers Barrow, Bartow, Butts, Carroll, Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, Dawson, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Haralson, Heard, Henry, Jasper, Lamar, Meriwether, Newton, Paulding, Pickens, Pike, Rockdale, Spalding and Walton counties.

In the smaller area covered by the Atlanta Regional Commission—Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry and Rockdale counties—the jobless pattern was the same: 9.1 percent in November, down from 9.8 percent a month earlier and 10.2 percent a year ago.

Cobb’s rate remains lower than the state rate—a seasonally adjusted 9.9 percent in November, down from 10.2 percent in October and 10.4 percent in November 2010—and dropped below the seasonally adjusted national rate of 8.6 percent in November. The national rate was lower than Cobb’s in October (9 percent) but higher in November 2010 (9.8 percent).

The Atlanta metro area added 13,300 jobs in November, the Labor Department said. Most of those jobs were in private service-related industries, including professional and business services, trade, transportation, warehousing, education, health care and financial services.


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