As 2018 is beginning to close, the state Labor Department released some promising labor force information Thursday, one week before Thanksgiving kicks off the holiday season.
The report said Georgia continued to set records regarding jobs numbers in the state during the month of October, including total jobs and employed residents, and the unemployment rate also fell again.
Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler says the unemployment rate is now 3.6 percent, just below the national rate of 3.7 and an improvement from the 4.5 percent rate Georgia saw one year ago.
“We set records again this month,” the commissioner said. “Georgia continues to grow stronger and better. We attract great jobs and more and more of them get filled. I don’t see this slowing down any time soon.”
2,400 jobs were added in Georgia during the month, bringing the state's total number of jobs to another record of 4.57 million. A total of 93,600 new jobs, or almost 8,000 a month, were added to the state over the past year.
There were just under 5 million employed Georgia residents by the end of October, with 375 people added to the employment rolls during that time. During an average month over the past year, 8,500 people were added to the employment rolls.
“The record in employed residents shows that Georgia is producing the right kind of jobs,” Butler said. “Creating jobs is great. But it’s better when we produce good jobs that get filled. People are getting these jobs in record numbers.”
Annually, jobs in the construction and trade, transportation, utilities categories saw gains by over 20,000; Professional, business services, education, health services and leisure, hospitality categories all added more than 10,000 over the past year.
“Construction gains are proof of Georgia’s booming economy as builders are pushing to meet the demand for more housing, office and retail space," Butler said.
For the month of October, professional and business services surged by 5,300. Construction was close behind with another 2,500 added.
Georgia's labor force did fall slightly, declining by about 3,500 to end the month at 5.2 million people. However over the past 12 months, 57,855 people were added to the Georgia workforce; that's an average of 4,900 a month.
As for unemployment claims, those were up by 49 percents. Compared to October of last year, they were up less than one percent. And, the DOL's EmployGeorgia job listing website saw an increase of nearly 15 percent, with nearly 77,000 jobs listed in the month of October.
Butler called it another great month, and that this month's numbers followed several other record-setting months. He said all indicators are pointing in the right direction for the year.
