Georgia's Unemployment Rate Increased in August; DOL Questions "Volatile" Figures

The commissioner of the Georgia Department of Labor believes that the U.S. Department of Labor’s figures which indicate the State of Georgia saw a four-tenths percent increase in the unemployment rate in August will eventually be proven to be exaggerated.

As it stands, the state’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate increased to 8.1 percent in August, up from 7.7 percent in July, the Georgia Department of Labor announced early Thursday morning. The unemployment rate in August 2013 was 8.2 percent.

In a Georgia Department of Labor release, Commissioner of Labor Mark Butler cited the creation of 24,700 new Georgia jobs in August and a 27 percent drop in initial unemployment claims as primary reasons why he suspected the federal numbers were incorrect.

The state Department of Labor spoke with their counterparts in Washington, which conducts the monthly surveys which determine state and national unemployment rates. According to Butler, the U.S. Department of Labor said that volatility in the month-to-month figures is expected and is usually adjusted during the benchmarking process which takes place at the start of each new year.

According to Butler, the initial state unemployment rates for July and August 2013 was eventually lowered by half a percent, and added that he suspected that the same situation would play out with this August’s rate.

Despite the higher unemployment rate, the state Department of Labor reports that there were 4,132,900 jobs in Georgia during August., This is the highest statewide job total since June 2008. Over-the-year job growth was reported at 2 percent, the second highest total since 2005.

Industries such as manufacturing, education and health, and construction all added thousands of new jobs during the month. Seasonal workers in schools returned from summer layoffs and bolstered the job numbers, the Department of Labor said.