Atlantic City’s unemployment rate took a noticeable drop in October, according to a federal report, but the city still has one of the highest rates in the country.
The resort saw about 8,000 jobs disappear when four casinos closed in 2014. But a reports from the U.S. Department of Labor shows Atlantic City with the largest unemployment rate decrease in October in the country.
The Atlantic City-Hammonton metro area saw a 2.5 percent decrease in the jobless rate in October, to 7.7 percent from 10.2 percent, and saw the largest decrease in the unemployed from year to year, according to a review by the Press of Atlantic City.
“When I began my term, I said there was going to be a root canal, but when it’s over we’re going to feel better,” Atlantic City Mayor Donald Guardian told the paper. “I think this is the healing process, and certainly the unemployment rate dropping is part of that healing.”
Atlantic City, however, still ranks 373 of 387 metropolitan areas ranked by unemployment rates, according to the labor report.
Officials told the paper that the decrease could be another sign that the casino market in the city is stabilizing as some properties have begun adding jobs, but the numbers could also reflect former workers who have left the area to pursue jobs in other markets.
