Atlanta maintains 4th place in job growth in August

Atlanta grew 4^th fastest among the 10 largest metro areas in the U.S. in August, despite adding only 600 jobs over the month according to newly released seasonally adjusted preliminary jobs data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Over the year, the Atlanta area gained 69,800 new jobs. Ahead of Atlanta in terms of job creation came Los Angeles (+122,400), New York (+116,800), and Dallas (+106,100).

Among the largest metro areas, Dallas recorded the largest percentage gain, up 3.2% followed by Atlanta at 2.8%.

Georgia Metro Areas

In Georgia, the Gainesville area recorded the largest increase in jobs in August, adding 800 new jobs, followed by the Atlanta area, which added 600.

Gainesville and Atlanta areas each grew by 2.8% over the year ending in August, while the Savannah area grew by 2.7%.

Over the year, four metro areas in Georgia recorded decreases in net employment. They include Brunswick (-200), Hinesville (-200), Albany (-700), and Valdosta (-1,100).

A total of five Georgia metro areas are still recording employment counts below where they stood in 2007 before the recession including Albany, Brunswick, Dalton, Rome, and Valdosta.

NLRB attorney explains recent decisions affecting union representation

National Labor Relations Board Region 10 Supervisory Attorney Lisa Henderson gives an update on changes at the NLRB.

On April 14, 2015, the NLRB implemented new procedures to speed up the processing of union representation cases to shorten the time between receiving a petition and holding an election to decide on union representation at a company.

Speaking to the Labor and Employment Relations Association (LERA) Atlanta Chapter on Sept. 24, Ms. Henderson told the group that since the new procedures have begun, the result has been shortened processing times decreasing times from 1/3 to half compared to the old process.  In July, the average was 22 days, in August it dropped to 21 days. This compares to a goal of 42 days on average before the new procedures.

The new procedures also narrow what goes into the official record. At least one employer raised privacy issues concerning the requirement to supply union officials with personal information about employees, including email addresses, home addresses, and personal telephone numbers. In that case, Region 10 considered this issue but felt that the right of the union to have full access to employees outweighed any privacy concerns.

She did not mention that opponents of this decision have offered a bill in Congress, the Employment Rights Act (ERA), to counteract the new procedures.

The NLRB attorney discussed the NLRB’s recent ruling in the Browning-Ferris Industries case where it found that BFI was a joint employer with Leadpoint, the company that supplied employees to BFI to perform various work functions for BFI, including cleaning and sorting of recycled products.

In finding that BFI was a joint employer with Leadpoint, the Board relied on indirect and direct control that BFI possessed over essential terms and conditions of employment of the employees supplied by Leadpoint as well as BFI’s reserved authority to control such terms and conditions.

This ruling overturned the decision of the NLRB region in California, which had previously ruled that no joint-employer status existed at the recycling plant.

Ms. Henderson indicated that the Board felt this new ruling was a return to an older standard that the Board had moved away from rather than the implementation of a new standard. In her opinion, the Board felt that the BFI ruling brought it more in line with modern realities.

Finally, Ms. Henderson addressed NLRB guidance on deferral to grievance arbitration and settlements contained in Memorandum GC 15-02, which was meant to provide guidance to regional offices and the public. While GC 15-02 is both lengthy and complex, it offers a new test for deferring to awards rendered by labor arbitrators in cases also involving alleged violations of Sections 8(a)(1) and (3) of the National Labor Relations Act and does raise questions as to its implementation and how that might affect arbitrators nationwide.

For more on each of these issues:

NLRB Region 10

Guidance Memorandum on Representation Case Procedure Changes

Procedures Fact Sheet

Browning-Ferris Industries Joint Employer decision

MEMORANDUM GC 15-02

Lower unemployment rate hides slowdown in Atlanta job market

Georgia's 5.9% unemployment rate hides the slowdown in the Atlanta area, which saw only 600 new jobs in August. 

Labor force continues to decline

Georgia reported a 5.9% unemployment rate for August, higher than the nation’s average of 5.1%, but still below its rate of 7.1% recorded in August 2014.

The headline rate disguises the slowdown in Georgia’s economy, and specifically in the Atlanta area.

The lower unemployment rate is due to people not participating in the current labor force. Since last August, Georgia has lost 6,137 people from its labor force, while the U.S. has added over 1 million.

Other economic indicators tend to show that the state is gaining population and workers, not losing them, so it is logical to assume that the true number of people who could be included in the labor force is growing at least at the same rate as the nation if not faster.

If the state’s labor force was growing at the same rate as the nation, August’s unemployment rate for Georgia would be at 6.5%.

This rate is more consistent with the evidence showing in the nonfarm jobs report also issued this week by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Nonfarm Employment grows modestly

Georgia recorded a modest 2,200 increase in August and reported 83,200 jobs over the year. The numbers translate into a 2.0% annual increase, slightly below the nation’s 2.1% job creation rate.

Over the past three months, Georgia has averaged 8,600 new jobs each month. As a comparison, the state recorded an average of 39,200 jobs for the comparable period in 2014.

The slowing rate caused Georgia to drop again in the state rankings of job creators. In June, the state was 6th best in the nation, in July it dropped to 8th place, and in August it now stands at 9th position.

In August, states adding more jobs than Georgia over the 12 months included (in order of number of jobs added): California, Florida, Texas, New York, North Carolina, Washington, Michigan, and Massachusetts.

Slowdown in Atlanta MSA offset by higher growth in rest of State

The slower growth rate for the state is directly attributable to the lower rate of job growth in the Atlanta area in August.

Last month, the Atlanta metro area added only 600 of the 2,200 new jobs recorded statewide. This is a remarkable turn for the Atlanta area, which had been the main driver of job growth over most of the previous 11 months.

For the three months ending in August, the Atlanta area lost 2,100 jobs compared to a loss of only 700 jobs for the same period in 2014.

Over the past 12 months, the Atlanta metro area has accounted for 69,800 of the 83,200 new jobs created in Georgia, or almost 84% of the state’s new jobs for an area that is home to almost 61% of the state’s employment.

In the Atlanta area, the noticeable slowdown in August was in the sector that is seen as Atlanta’s growth engine – Professional and Business Services. This sector includes engineering, accounting, and consulting firms; but it also includes employment agencies (temporary and permanent employment), which also showed slowing in August.

It is possible this is a one-month aberration due to a statistical or survey anomaly, but it will be worth watching over the next two months to see if the slowdown continues or will be wiped away by revisions in the data.

Georgia unemployment rate drops, job growth is modest in August

Georgia added 2,200 jobs in August, while the state’s unemployment rate dropped to 5.9%.

“This is the first time Georgia’s unemployment rate has dropped below six percent since May 2008,” said State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler. “The rate declined as our employers laid off the fewest workers for any month in more than 15 years and continued to create jobs.”

In a YouTube video, Commissioner Butler alluded to the fact that the decline in the rate was due to people dropping out of the labor force rather than people finding jobs. Layoffs decline while a slowdown continues in the number of new jobs being created by companies and government.

Nonfarm employment rose by 2,200 in August, a modest gain compared to the increase of 14,300 jobs in August 2014.

There was good news in the revision of the preliminary count of jobs in July. The July jobs number was revised upward from the preliminary 4,600 jobs to a revised count of 10,500 jobs.

Over the year, the state has added 83,200 jobs, its slowest 12-month increase since 2013.

In 2014, the state was growing faster than the nation, but that has now changed. Georgia’s job growth at 2.0% is slower than the national rate of 2.1% despite recent drops in the price of gasoline, which is putting more money into the pocket of consumers and Georgia businesses, such as Delta Air Lines and UPS.

Effects of Department of Labor's overtime plan more dramatic in Georgia

A new analysis conducted for the National Retail Federation shows that new rules on overtime proposed by the U.S. Department of Labor would particularly affect management and professional employees in low-wage states and in rural areas where income and the cost of living are lower than the national average.

The Athens Banner-Herald is reporting that under the proposal, most individuals making up to $970 a week anywhere in the country would automatically receive overtime pay at time-and-a-half when working more than 40 hours a week, up from the current $455. The Labor Department chose $970 under a formula intended to give overtime to the lowest-paid 40 percent of full-time workers nationwide who currently receive a fixed salary.

But in 10 states – Alabama, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Kentucky, Nevada, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota and Texas – that dollar figure would bring at least 45 percent of full-time salaried workers under overtime rules. Another eight states – Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee and West Virginia – would see at least 50 percent covered. The figure works out to the intended 40 percent in only one state, Maine.

The salary threshold would also be indexed, raising it to $1,400 by 2017 under one option proposed by the Labor Department. Within three years, only 22 percent of current salaried workers would remain exempt from overtime.

“This proposal has been spun as a way to raise the income of struggling workers but there are places where bankers or stockbrokers could be turned into hourly workers,” NRF Senior Vice President for Government Relations David French said. “The Labor Department has ignored the fact that the cost-of-living varies throughout the country.”

New bioscience training center opens in Social Circle, Ga.

State officials formally marked the grand opening of a new $14 million Georgia Bioscience Training Center on Sep. 10 in Newton County.

Located directly across from the site of Baxalta’s $1 billion biomanufacturing facility in Social Circle, Ga., the training center is designed to meet Baxalta’s workforce training needs and includes flexible space to accommodate the training needs of additional life sciences companies that choose to locate or expand in Georgia. The training center is owned by the State of Georgia and operated by Georgia Quick Start, a division of the Technical College System of Georgia.

“A skilled, professionally trained and qualified workforce is essential for Georgia to usher in a new era of bioscience industry,” said Gov. Nathan Deal. “The BioScence Training Center is a showcase destination where biotech prospects and industry groups can see the level of support and training expertise Georgia can provide. Operated by Quick Start, the No. 1 workforce training program in the country, this first-of-its-kind training center offers companies a great opportunity to secure a qualified workforce and offers Georgians resources and support to ensure their success in these high performance jobs.”

“Our employees are the core of this mission,” said senior vice president and head of global operations of Baxalta John Furey. “With Georgia Quick Start’s help, we will continue to attract and train top-talent in the area to join our Baxalta team.”

The facility features custom-made technology that simulates Baxalta’s biomanufacturing processes such as centrifugation, chromatography, nanofiltration and aseptic filling. It also has space for the aseptic production of pharmaceutical-grade clinical samples. Additionally, the training center is equipped to deliver training on a wide range of advanced manufacturing technologies including mechatronics, metrology and process controls.

“This is a significant milestone in Georgia’s growth as a premier location for biomanufacturing, and solidifies the state’s commitment to the life science industry,” said Georgia Department of Economic Development Commissioner Chris Carr. “To be able to offer biotech companies access to customized training and one-of-a-kind equipment gives us a major competitive advantage in the global marketplace.”

Baxalta was spun off from Baxter International in July. It is currently fighting attempts by Shire PLC, which launched a takeover bid in August.

Federal judge rules against procedures used in Georgia's garnishment law

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is reporting that a federal judge ruled that procedures set forth in Georgia’s garnishment law are unconstitutional.

According to the newspaper, the judge ruled that the law is flawed because it doesn’t require creditors to tell debtors that some money — like Social Security benefits, welfare payments and workers’ compensation — is off limits to garnishments. 

When that money is wrongly taken, the law doesn’t require creditors to tell people how to get it back, and it doesn’t provide a timely procedure for determining whether funds should have been exempt, U.S. District Court Senior Judge Marvin H. Shoob wrote.

The ruling stems from a lawsuit filed by Tony Strickland after creditors seized his Social Security disability income and his workers’ compensation settlement. He filed his original lawsuit, which was dismissed by a court. He then filed an appeal of that dismissal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11^th Circuit, which overturned the lower court dismissal allowing for the trial to go forward.  

While the judgment applies only to Gwinnett County, it will likely to affect courts statewide.

Richard Alexander, Gwinnett’s clerk of courts, was named in the suit. Alexander said he will follow the ruling, but does not know what the rest of the state might do.

“Here, we’ve stopped,” he said. “We won’t be sending any more summons. We won’t disburse funds. We’re going to follow the court’s order.”

A spokesman for the state attorney general’s office, which argued in favor of the existing law, said officials are still reviewing the decision and had no comment.

Richard Howe, managing partner of the collection firm Howe & Associates, said he does not think the ruling will stick if the state or Gwinnett decides to appeal. Appellate courts have upheld the existing garnishment law in the past, he said.

A garnishment occurs when a creditor claims that someone has not paid a debt. To collect the money, the creditor can file a lawsuit. If the debtor doesn’t reply within 30 days, an automatic judgment is issued, and wages or assets can be seized.

Georgia Governor asks for "static" count as Obama announces plans to re-settle 10,000 Syrian refugees

Number of new refugees coming to Georgia is unknown.

The New York Times reported on Thursday that President Obama has told administration officials to begin planning for the resettlement of at least 10,000 Syrian refugees in the U.S. beginning Oct. 1.

The President’s decision comes after Georgia Governor Nathan Deal said on Tuesday that he does not wish to see the number of refugees increasing in Georgia. The governor reportedly told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution he wants Georgia’s refugee numbers to remain static at around 2,500 and requested as much to the State Department.

On Wednesday, the governor explained that “We’ll certainly do our share, but we do think they need to do a very good job of making sure that where they place these individuals are places that can absorb them and make it easy on them and easy on the surrounding community." He admitted that the state has no real control over how many refugees the state would take in and said that resettling people is a federal issue.  

The newspaper reported on Tuesday that the governor’s wary approach to the escalating crisis in Syria was echoed by Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, typically one of the region’s most forceful advocates of a welcoming policy to immigrants and refugees. He said he needed more time to evaluate the city’s position and that he would likely follow the lead of the Obama administration, which is weighing its options.

“I’m not going to get ahead of the federal government with regards to the Syrian refugee crisis,” he said.

In a briefing, Josh Earnest, press secretary to the President, said that the United States would accept at least 10,000 refugees in the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.

Other administration officials believe the total number of refugees could rise to 100,000 from the present 70,000. Not all of the 30,000 additional refugees would come from Syria. Mr. Earnest said this was a “misunderstanding” of Secretary of State John Kerry’s remarks.

Humanitarian officials have repeatedly disputed the idea that Georgia is taking in more than its fair share of refugees.

MARTA to outsource absence management

On Sept. 3, MARTA’s Board of Directors authorized a contract with UPMC (University of Pennsylvania Medical Corp.) WorkPartners to manage MARTA’s short- and long-term sick leave, as well as family and medical leave, at a cost of $1.7 million over a three-year period for the transit system.

The 8 to 0 vote reflects the Atlanta transit system’s frustration over the in-house handling of its leave policies. The Board hopes that outsourcing absence management to a private company will cut costs through closer oversight of leave usage.

With added scrutiny, “the people beating the system right now will come to the forefront, and we’ve got a lot of people beating the system,” said Freda B. Hardage, a Fulton County representative on the MARTA Board.

According to the story in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the goal of outsourcing management of leave is to nearly double, from 8 percent to 15 percent, the percentage of requests for unplanned absence claims that are currently denied.

The newspaper is reporting that MARTA had been spending $3.1 million a year to manage different types of employee leave internally, including vacation, sick leave and disability programs. On any given day, one in three MARTA employees is absent from work because of an unplanned event. And for bus drivers, maintenance workers or train operators, that absence rate exceeds 50 percent.

In 2012, a consultant’s audit found the high rate of call-outs cost MARTA about $11 million a year. Another assessment by a separate consultant late last year found that those costs are rising. Unplanned absences now account for $13.6 million in MARTA’s budget.

A recent assessment by Sagewell Partners found that unplanned absences are costing MARTA 598,923 total lost work hours, equivalent to the work time of 291 full-time employees and about 6 percent of the transit agency’s overall payroll costs.

FMLA leave policy is so complicated that outside vendors are increasingly being brought in to manage these programs, said Phil LaPorte, a labor relations expert and professor emeritus at Georgia State University College of Law.

“They have greater expertise in dealing with it on a day-to-day basis, and they can spend the time to require the medical verification of the condition the employee is alleging,” LaPorte said.

MARTA RFP P35334

On Labor Day, Georgia Workers Should Demand a Better Life

The following opinion was originally published in the flagpole, a publication out of Athens, Ga.

By Steve Lomax

Labor Day was created to pay tribute to America’s hard-working men and women, but for many working and middle class families in Georgia, taking time off during the holiday is not an option. For too many Americans, Labor Day is just another working day when the realities and challenges they face only grow. 

Across our state, countless hard-working Georgians who help to feed, serve, clothe and build this country still struggle like never before in low-paying full- or part-time jobs. Nationally, wages have not kept up with inflation. In Georgia, wages have dropped by 12 percent between 2009–2014. Most Americans hope to improve their lives and their income annually, but in Georgia wages have dropped by 13 percent since the recession, a real figure of $7,374 lost, on average, to Georgia’s working families, from 2007–2013.

Erratic work schedules are becoming the norm, especially for workers in the service sector like those at Walmart and McDonald’s. This kind of scheduling makes it all but impossible for workers to control their lives, let alone go to school or take care of a child or a loved one. 

Even worse, as Bloomberg News just reported, irresponsible companies like Walmart promise to raise wages, and then turn around and cut hours—so workers actually earn less. And, to add insult to injury, trade deals supported by Democrats and Republicans offer false promises of better jobs, but we continue to ship good Georgia jobs overseas.

As a result, income inequality has risen to levels not seen since the “Roaring Twenties,” and the divide between the rich and poor continues to grow. According to the new book titled $2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America, the number of U.S. residents struggling in poverty and trying to get by on only $2 a day has more than doubled since 1996.  

This Labor Day, every Georgian must really ask themselves: How long can this nation endure when so few have so much, and so many have so little?  

For the sake of all of our families, this must change. And that change must begin now. 

Our 17,000 member strong union family is more determined than ever to fight for a better life for all hard-working Georgians. Our message to every worker is a simple one: You’ve earned a better life.

Every day, not just on Labor Day, unions work hard to provide the better wages, benefits and protections that working men and women truly need. The results and benefits of joining a union nationally are quite clear. On average, union workers earn 27 percent more than non-union workers, and are more likely to have paid sick leave and a pension plan. 

More importantly, it is clearer every day that our nation’s broken political system is unlikely to address income inequality, and poor wages and benefits will not be addressed by irresponsible companies more interested in PR stunts. 

Real change will come from hard-working people joining together to fight for it. That’s what Labor Day must be about.  

Labor Day should be a day where hard-working people join together to demand a better life. It must be a day where workers, no matter where they work, whether they work, say enough is enough and call for better wages, better benefits, and a better life they deserve. 

But above all, Labor Day must also be when Georgians realize that there is no corporate or political hero coming to the rescue. Instead, hard-working men and women must seize the opportunity to define their own destiny. 

Doing so begins with every worker knowing that they have power, with our help, to negotiate a better life for themselves and their family. Because when all is said and done, no one in Georgia should have to fight for a better life alone. 

Steve Lomax is the president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1996, which represents 17,000 members in the Southeast, and an International President of the UFCW. Local 1996 represents retail workers; poultry, packaging and manufacturing workers; and health care workers, providing excellent part-time and full-time benefits as well as dignified treatment and a voice at work.

Whistleblower allegations leads to Columbus Regional paying $35 million settlement

A whistleblower's allegations of fraud by Columbus Regional Health has led the healthcare corporation agreeing to pay $35 million to settle fraud claims brought by the federal and Georgia government. 

Columbus Regional Healthcare System, John B. Amos Cancer Center, Columbus Radiation Oncology Center, Regional Oncology LLC, and Dr. Andrew W. Pippas are all defendants in the court case. Richard Barker was the whistleblower who brought the fraud allegations to the governments' attention.

In the agreement filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, the defendants will pay $25 million and up to a maximum of $35 million to settle claims under the False Claims Act.

Richard Barker, as the whistleblower in the case, will receive 15% of the initial $10 million settlement with additional payments still to be negotiated between the governments and Mr. Barker.

The government alleged that the health care institutions falsely billed fees higher than were supported by documentation in the patients’ medical records between May 2006 and May 2013. Submission of claims to Medicare, Medicaid, Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHB), and TRICARE for Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) treatments did not qualify to be billed as IMRT during the period from July 15, 2010 through 2012. In addition, the government claims that CRHS made improper salary and medical directorship payments to Dr. Pippas resulting in improper claims to Medicaid and Medicare for reimbursement between 2003 and 2013.

The initial $10 million will be paid immediately with an additional $15 million plus interest to be paid over five years. In addition, the defendants have agreed to pay 1.5% of all annual net patient revenues that exceed $445 million between fiscal years 2016 through 2020.  The defendants will also pay all annual earnings that exceed $3.3 million from the joint venture of TMC with HealthSouth Corporation known as the Rehabilitation Hospital of Phenix City LLC. Total recovery shall not exceed $35 million.

In making these payments, the defendants did not admit any liability.

Columbus Regional Health describes itself as established in 1986 as a not-for-profit health services organization with roots going back to 1836. It refers to itself as "the region's health care leader offering compassionate care and an unwavering commitment to the residents of the region."

Case 4:12-cv-00108-CDL Document 112 Filed 09/04/15

Delta pilots choose new leadership

Delta's pilots union has selected new leadership for its labor negotiations with Delta Air Lines. 

John Malone has been elected chairman of the Delta Master Executive Council at a special meeting of the Local Executive Councils of the Delta MEC, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association International. The meeting was held at the Renaissance Concourse Hotel in Atlanta.

In his address to the MEC, Captain Malone stated, “We need to own our mistakes, listen to the pilots, reconnect with them, encourage their participation and, most importantly, treat all our fellow pilots with respect – even the most ardent critic. ALPA is the only union that can deliver the services needed to restore our profession.”

“This weekend is Labor Day. On this weekend I want you to take real pride in your leadership role of protecting and promoting working people in America. What we – what ALPA does impacts all of labor in America.”

Captain Malone is an Atlanta-based 767-300ER pilot at Delta Air Lines, Inc., and will fill the remainder of the term beginning Sept. 15 through Dec. 31, 2016. He replaces Mike Donatelli, who stepped down as chairman.

The MEC also elected a new Negotiating Committee. Captain Steve Uvena was elected as chairman. F/O Ron Hay, Captain Heiko Kallenbach, and Captain Jeff Anderson were elected as members.

The committee will serve beginning immediately and for a period not to exceed six months after the signing of a new Section 6 agreement.

The changes come after 65% of Delta pilots voting in July refused to approve a proposed contract between the union and Delta Air Lines.

The Delta MEC is composed of 9 Local Executive Councils and acts as the governing body of the airline’s 12,000 pilots.

More information is available on the Delta MEC website at https://dal.alpa.org.

Atlanta grows, while Georgia slows

Fast growth in the Atlanta metro area contrasts with slower growth in the rest of the state

Metro Atlanta’s job market remained strong in July as the area added 13,200 new jobs over the month.

For the 12 months ending in July, the area’s employment has increased by 75,800, placing it 4^th in job growth among the nation’s largest population centers after the Los Angeles, New York, and Dallas areas, according to new seasonally adjusted data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. By population, the Atlanta region ranks 9^th.

While the Atlanta region’s growth remained robust, conditions in the rest of Georgia slowed. Outside the Atlanta metro area, the state recorded its 5^th consecutive month of job losses, dropping 8,600 jobs in July.

From March through July, the Atlanta region has seen the addition of 26,700 new jobs, while the rest of the state has recorded a loss of 20,600 jobs.

Due to this divergence, the Atlanta region has grown by 3.0% over the past 12 months, while the state has recorded a 2.1% growth rate.

With the recent slowdown, the state’s annual job growth dropped from 6^th place in June to 8^th place in July among the 50 states. For the 12 months ending in July, the state added 89,400 nonfarm jobs. This contrasts with the 130,700 jobs it added in the 12 months ending in July 2014.

Other Georgia Metro Areas

There continues to be pockets of strength outside of the 29-county Atlanta metro area with Savannah adding 4,000 jobs over the past 12 months for a 2.4% growth rate.

The Dalton area continued its recovery from the recession with a 2.6% annual growth rate, while Brunswick recorded an annual increase of 2.4%. Despite the recent rebound in their economies, employment in both Dalton and Brunswick remain below their pre-2007 levels.

Among metro areas in the state, Valdosta recorded the largest 12-month decline in July, shedding 1,200 jobs for a loss of 2.2% since July 2014.

The Atlanta metro area is defined as including Barrow, Bartow, Butts, Carroll, Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, Dawson, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Haralson, Heard, Henry, Jasper, Lamar, Meriwether, Morgan, Newton, Paulding, Pickens, Pike, Rockdale, Spalding, and Walton counties.