Some Good News On The Job Market

Georgians got some good news on the job market front today with the Department of Labor’s announcement that the unemployment rate dropped into the single digits in April to a revised 9.9 percent. Although only a reduction of one-tenths of a percentage point down from the revised 10 percent in March, it is also down from the 10.1 percent it was in April a year ago.

“Not only is this the first time in nearly two years that Georgia’s unemployment rate has dipped into the single digits, but this is also the third consecutive month of job growth,” said State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler. 

Georgia’s unemployment rate hasn’t dropped below 10 percent since June 2009 when it was 9.8 percent.

According to a press release from the Georgia DOL, the job increases were experienced in both the month and the year with an increase of 30,100 payroll jobs in April. Officials said most of the new jobs were added in leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, trade, educational and health services and construction. Since April last year, Georgia employment is up by 2,200 jobs.

But not all the news was good. According to the figures released by the state DOL, Georgia’s unemployment rate still exceeds the national average by 0.9 percent, a trend that has continued for 43 consecutive months. Although the number of long-term unemployed workers also continued the downward trend with a reduction of 6,700 in this category, long-term unemployed Georgians still remain 18.4 percent higher than April last year and account for 55 percent of the reported 462,370 unemployed Georgians. 

In April, 54,337 laid-off workers filed first-time claims for unemployment insurance benefits, up 4,006, or 8 percent, from 50,331 in March. Most of the first-time claims were filed in manufacturing, administrative and support services, trade and construction. However, over a 12-month period there was a decrease of 10.4 percent since April last year.