Georgia's Unemployment Rate Was Unchanged To Close Out 2022

By T.A. DeFeo | The Center Square contributor, The Center Square Georgia

January 19, 2023

(The Center Square) — Georgia’s December unemployment rate was 3%, unchanged from November’s revised rate.

Additionally, state officials said job numbers increased by nearly 6,000 from November, hitting an all-time high. Georgia’s unemployment rate remained lower than the national unemployment rate of 3.5% in December.

"The end of 2022 saw Georgia’s December unemployment rate drop five-tenths of a percent lower than the national unemployment rate, pointing to strong economic growth," Bruce Thompson, Georgia’s newly minted labor commissioner, said in an announcement. "Georgia’s red-hot economy evidenced by our state is being recognized for the 9th year in a row as the #1 place to do business."

In his inaugural address last week, Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, said his approach to re-open the state as quickly as possible amid the COVID-19 pandemic helped position the state for its rosy labor position.

"We listened to the people of our state, not the Atlanta paper, the media, the pundits or the so-called experts," the governor said.

"We gave Georgians the opportunity to go back to work, to get their kids back in the classroom and protect freedom to live their lives without fear of more government lockdowns, mandates and overreach," Kemp added. "And because we did that, Georgia came roaring back."

"Georgia has the most people ever working, the lowest unemployment rate in the history of our state."

The focus of the work of The Center Square Georgia is state and local-level government and economic reporting that approaches stories with a taxpayer sensibility.