Jobless rate improves in two-thirds of U.S. metros, but not in Atlanta

Atlanta Business Chronicle - by G. Scott Thomas

Nearly two-thirds of the nation’s 372 metropolitan areas finished 2010 with lower unemployment rates than the posted a year earlier, but Atlanta was not among them.

A total of 238 metros registered improvements in their jobless rates last year, according to a Business First analysis of new data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Nineteen metros were unchanged, while the remaining 115 areas suffered increases in unemployment.

In Georgia:

• Albany -- 10.5 percent unemployment, flat
• Athens-Clarke County -- 7.6 percent unemployment, up 0.2 points
• Atlanta -- 10.2 percent unemployment, up 0.1 points
• Augusta -- 8.9 percent unemployment, down 0.4 points
• Brunswick -- 10 percent unemployment, up 0.8 points
• Columbus -- 9.6 percent unemployment, up 0.2 points
• Dalton -- 12.7 percent unemployment, up 0.2 points
• Gainesville -- 9 percent unemployment, down 0.1 points
• Hinesville-Fort Stewart -- 8.5 percent unemployment, up 0.6 points
• Macon -- 10.3 percent unemployment, up 0.4 points
• Rome -- 10.6 percent unemployment, up 0.2 points
• Savannah -- 8.9 percent unemployment, up 0.4 points
• Valdosta -- 8.8 percent unemployment, up 0.2 points
• Warner Robins -- 7.9 percent unemployment, up 0.6 points

http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2011/02/07/jobless-rate-improves-in-two-thirds-of.html