ATLANTA (CBS ATLANTA) -
Atlantans are going back to work, according to the latest numbers from the Georgia Department of Labor.
Commissioner Mark Butler announced Thursday that unemployment in the metro Atlanta area was down three-tenths of a point to 8.9 percent in August.
That preliminary rate is a full point lower than it was a year ago, at 9.9 percent.
Butler said the decline is due to 1,547 fewer layoffs in manufacturing, construction, administrative and support services, and other fields. Also, as students left summer jobs and returned to school this August, the city's labor force dropped by 23,505.
The metro area with the lowest rate this month was Athens, at 6.7 percent, and the highest rate was the Heart of Georgia-Altamaha Regional Commission with 12.2 percent.
Across the state, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was unchanged at 9.2 percent, according to the DOL.
Butler also said 49,700 jobs have been created in Georgia since August 2011.
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