(The Center Square) — While Atlanta’s unemployment rate has largely bounced back following the COVID-19 pandemic, two other cities in Georgia are more affected by the nation’s ongoing economic woes, a new analysis revealed.
WalletHub, a personal finance website, ranked 180 cities nationwide — including the Georgia cities of Atlanta, Augusta and Columbus — based on five metrics, including the unemployment rate in August and how that rate compared to the past few years.
Hialeah, Florida, ranked at the top of the list. Atlanta ranked 58th and was the only Georgia city in the top half of the list.
“This is because it actually has fewer unemployed people than it did prior to the pandemic,” Jill Gonzalez, a WalletHub analyst, told The Center Square. “The number is lower by about 12% compared to August 2019. Plus, compared to August 2020, when the pandemic was in full swing, there are currently over 60% fewer unemployed people.”
Meanwhile, Augusta and Columbus ranked in the bottom half at 129th and 139th.
“While they’ve both registered drops in the number of unemployed people in the past month compared to August 2021 and August 2020, the percentages are some of the lowest in the country – 18-20% compared to last year and about 47% since 2020,” Gonzalez said.
“These figures indicate that while Atlanta seems to have bounced back, Augusta and Columbus are slower to recover and are more affected by the current economic struggles that the US is facing,” Gonzalez added.
Earlier this month, Peach State labor officials said the state’s non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stood at 3.1% in August, up from 2.9% in July and down from 3.9% in August 2021. The national non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 3.8% in August, the same as July and down from 5.3% in August 2021.
