Kennesaw Jobless Rate at 9.8%

Of the three Cobb cities for which the Georgia Department of Labor keeps statistics, Kennesaw had the highest jobless rate in June at 9.8 percent.

That was a half-percentage point higher than the rate in May, according to numbers the Georgia Department of Labor released today.

While Marietta saw its unemployment rate increase from 8.7 percent in May to 9.2 percent June, Smyrna's rate bumped from 7.8 to 8.0 percent, according to the agency.

Increases in Kennesaw, Marietta and Smyrna mirrored upticks across Cobb County and metro Atlanta during the same time period.

Cobb County's unemployment rate rose from 7.5 percent in May to 8.0 percent in June, according to the Department of Labor. Metro Atlanta's jobless rate jumped from 8.2 percent in May to 8.9 percent in June.

In a statement, the Department of Labor attributed the increase to the large numbers of education workers who are unemployed during the summer and new graduates who are considered unemployed until they find a job.

Metro Athens had the lowest area jobless rate in Georgia at 7.2 percent, while the Heart of Georgia-Altamaha region had the highest at 12.9 percent.