Cobb County residents gained almost 1,700 jobs in February, according to preliminary figures released today by the Georgia Department of Labor.

The unemployment rate was unchanged from January’s 8.4 percent because the labor force grew by more than 1,900. But at 344,029, the number of people in Cobb with jobs rose by almost 9,000 from February 2011, when the county’s jobless rate was 9.2 percent.

The February rate was higher than the national rate of 8.3 percent, unchanged from January, but lower than the state rate of 9.1 percent, down from 9.2 percent in January.

For the 28-county Atlanta metro area and for the 10-county area covered by the Atlanta Regional Commission, both of which include Cobb, the unemployment rate dropped to 9 percent from 9.1 percent in January and 9.9 percent in February 2011.

Fewer layoffs in manufacturing, construction, trade, and administrative and support services fueled the drop in the Atlanta metro unemployment rate, the state Labor Department said.

While the national and statewide figures are seasonally adjusted, the local numbers are not, so the comparisons with a year ago are a better gauge of the employment picture than the month-to-month variations.

The state gained 15,600 jobs in February, 70 percent of them in the private sector, for a total of 3,880,400, the Labor Department said.

In the past year, Georgia added 41,800 jobs, most of them in professional and business services, the state department said. Other top areas for job growth were retail trade, education and health care, and manufacturing.

The state Labor Department held a live, online chat Wednesday on job interview tips, following up on career advice for young people in February and tips on surviving a layoff in January.

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