Goizueta economist Tom Smith was featured on WABE radio Thursday afternoon in light of new Atlanta jobs numbers that — for the moment — appear to be showing signs of improvement.
Perhaps.
Unemployment in Metro Atlanta dropped to 10 percent last month, down from 10.3 percent in August. But, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the drop coincided with a shrinking amount of workers.
“…The change was primarily due to people leaving the workforce, often because of their inability to find work, rather than an increase in hiring,” State Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond told the AJC. “Employers are often hesitant to hire in an uncertain economy.”
Smith says the government could help diminish some of that uncertainty with more incentives to employers.
“Maybe it’s gonna have to be something a little more dramatic, like, ‘OK, if you don’t start hiring workers, maybe we’re not going to be so lenient, or maybe we’re gonna start looking at you a little more carefully,'” Smith told Martha Dalton of WABE.
