Jobs in Atlanta are on the decline, and will continue that trend for the remainder of this year.

The Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta area had a non-farm employment of 2,440,400 people in July 2008, according to the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, a .2 percent decrease from last year.

The national and local economy will continue to slow through the rest of 2008, according to an interview by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution with Rajeev Dhawan, director of the Georgia State Economic Forecasting Center. Job losses in Atlanta and Georgia will continue in the midst of high energy prices and a credit crisis.

“Building — both commercial and residential — has been a critical component of the metro Atlanta economy,” the article notes. “But the combination of a surplus of new homes and the cautious lending means that a turnaround in housing will not come until 2010.”

With the construction industry struggling, Atlanta jobs are expected to drop by about 20,600 this year, about one-third of them high-paying positions. Statewide, about 35,300 jobs will be eliminated, with most regions seeing either slow growth or job losses this year.

Nationally, unemployment is expected to average 5.5 percent this year, topping out at 6.4 percent during 2009 before starting a slow decline. The national unemployment rate in July was 5.7 percent.

For Georgia, an average unemployment rate of 5.9 percent is predicted for the rest of the year, while Atlanta should see an average unemployment rate of 5.5 percent in 2008 and 5.9 percent in 2009. In July Atlanta’s unemployment rate was at 6.3 percent, the highest in 16 years. Georgia had an unemployment rate of 6.2 percent.

Georgia payrolls have increased over the past year, but they decreased by about 46,600 jobs from June to July, according to the Labor Department.

Nationally, the economy should grow by a 1.4 percent this year, slipping to 0.5 percent next year, and expansion will increase to 2.2 percent in 2010.

“Even that anemic growth depends largely on the willingness of the Federal Reserve to keep the benchmark interest rate relatively low,” the article states. “Should the Fed decide it must act to stifle inflation, it would raise rates — which would further crimp economic growth.”