Politics & Government

Cobb Absorbs Growing Workforce

The county's unemployment rate remained 8.4 percent in February while nearly 1,700 more residents went to work.

Cobb County residents gained almost 1,700 jobs in February, according to preliminary figures released today by the Georgia Department of Labor.

The unemployment rate was unchanged from because the labor force grew by more than 1,900. But at 344,029, the number of people in Cobb with jobs rose by almost 9,000 from February 2011, when the county’s jobless rate was 9.2 percent.

The February rate was higher than the national rate of 8.3 percent, unchanged from January, but lower than the state rate of 9.1 percent, down from 9.2 percent in January.

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For the 28-county Atlanta metro area and for the 10-county area covered by the Atlanta Regional Commission, both of which include Cobb, the unemployment rate dropped to 9 percent from 9.1 percent in January and 9.9 percent in February 2011.

Fewer layoffs in manufacturing, construction, trade, and administrative and support services fueled the drop in the Atlanta metro unemployment rate, the state Labor Department said.

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While the national and statewide figures are seasonally adjusted, the local numbers are not, so the comparisons with a year ago are a better gauge of the employment picture than the month-to-month variations.

The state gained 15,600 jobs in February, 70 percent of them in the private sector, for a total of 3,880,400, the Labor Department said.

In the past year, Georgia added 41,800 jobs, most of them in professional and business services, the state department said. Other top areas for job growth were retail trade, education and health care, and manufacturing.

The state Labor Department held a live, online chat Wednesday on , following up on in February and in January.

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February's Unemployment ReportΒ 

Jurisdiction Preliminary Feb. 2012 Revised Jan. 2012 Revised Feb. 2011 United States 8.3% 8.3% 9.0% Georgia 9.1% 9.2% 9.9% Atlanta metro 9.0% 9.1% 9.9% Atlanta Regional Commission 9.0% 9.1% 9.9% Northwest Georgia 9.6% 9.8% 10.5% Bartow County 9.7% 9.8% 10.9% Cherokee County 7.6% 7.6% 8.6% Cobb County 8.4% 8.4% 9.2% Douglas County 9.4% 9.5% 10.8% Paulding County 8.5% 8.6% 9.8% Douglasville 10.5% 10.9% 11.3% Kennesaw 10.2% 10.3% 11.4% Marietta 9.5% 9.5% 9.9% Note: U.S. and Georgia rates are seasonally adjusted; all regional, county and city rates are not.


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