Jobless Rate Drops in Woodstock

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Preliminary figures show unemployment rate for the city of Woodstock decreased last month.

That’s according to numbers released by the Georgia Department of Labor. Sandy Springs’ rate dropped from 6.4 in November to 6.2 percent in December. The city’s most current figure is an improvement from its December 2013 rate of 6.8 percent.

Rates for surrounding cities include: Alpharetta at 4.8 percent; Atlanta at 8.6 percent; Dunwoody at 4.8 percent; Johns Creek at 5.4 percent; Kennesaw at 7.4 percent; Marietta at 6.5 percent; Milton at 5.1 percent; Roswell at 4.9 percent; Sandy Springs at 5.1 percent; and Smyrna at 6.2 percent.

At the county level, Cherokee’s rate also fell, but the drop was also small. The county’s rate dipped from 5.3 percent in November to 5.2 percent in December. Its current figure is also an improvement from its rate in December 2013, which was 5.7 percent.

At the regional level, the unemployment rate in metro Atlanta remained unchanged in December, but the number of jobs grew slightly, the state labor department said Thursday.

• Click here for detailed information on Georgia’s labor force

The Georgia Department of Labor said in a press release that the metro’s jobless rate was 6.4 percent in December, the same rate as November.

However, jobs grew by 5,500 (0.2 percent), ending a three-year streak that saw the metro lose an average of 900 jobs from November to December.

The jobless rate for metro Atlanta was 6.8 percent in December 2013. The labor department said most of the new December jobs in metro Atlanta came from industries associated with holiday hiring.

Metro Athens had the lowest area jobless rate in the state at 4.9 percent, while the Heart of Georgia-Altamaha region had the highest at 8.8 percent.

Georgia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for December was 6.9 percent, down from 7.2 percent in November. Georgia labor market data is available at www.gdol.ga.gov.

Patch Editor Scott Bernarde contributed to this article