Cobb Sees Spike in Jobless Rate

This article was written by Patch Field Editor Rodney Thrash. 

Cobb County's unemployment rate jumped from 6.8 percent in April to 7.5 percent in May, according to numbers the Georgia Department of Labor released today.

That increase mirrored an uptick across metro Atlanta, where the unemployment rate rose from 7.6 percent in April to 8.2 percent in May.

In a statement, the Department of Labor attributed the spike in unemployment to "an increase in layoffs and an influx of new job seekers into the labor force, both seasonal in nature."

Of the three Cobb cities for which the Department of Labor keeps statistics, Kennesaw had the highest jobless rate at 9.3 percent, up from 8.3 percent in April.

Marietta's unemployment rate increased from 7.8 to 8.7 percent and Smyrna's rate bumped from 7.5 to 7.8 percent, according to the agency.

Metro Athens had the lowest area jobless rate in Georgia at 6.2 percent, while the Heart of Georgia-Altamaha region had the highest at 11.5 percent.