The Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL) announced Thursday morning that the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 5.2 percent in October, up one-tenth of a percentage point from 5.1 percent in September. The rate in October 2015 was 5.5 percent.
“The rate increased slightly as our labor force grew by 27,795 as more jobseekers began looking for work in October,” said State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler in his monthly press statement. “Since some new jobseekers won’t land a job immediately, they are counted as unemployed, which can result in a rate increase. But, our employers continue to create jobs, so there are a lot of good opportunities for work.”
The labor force consists of people who are employed and those actively searching for a job. In October, it increased to 4,945,950. The number of employed grew by 21,473 to 4,691,161, while the number of unemployed increased by 6,322 to 254,789. The labor force has grown by 161,527 since the first of this year.
The number of jobs increased by 6,700, or 0.2 percent, to 4,410,300 in October. Most of the gains came in professional and business services, 4,400; financial activities, 1,800; information services, 1,700; and education and health services, 1,000. The gains were offset somewhat by losses in leisure and hospitality, 1,600, and other services, 1,100.
Over the year, the number of jobs increased by 97,100, a 2.3 percent growth rate. The national growth rate was 1.7 percent. Most of the job gains came in professional and business services, 24,400; trade, transportation and warehousing, 21,900; leisure and hospitality, 18,600; education and health services, 11,400; construction, 9,600; government, 7,400; and financial activities, 6,300.
In October, 70,200 jobs were posted statewide on Employ Georgia, the GDOL’s online job listing service at employgeorgia.com. The number of STEM jobs, those in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, represented 35 percent of those new postings.
The number of initial claims for unemployment insurance rose by 4,952, or 20.3 percent, to 29,355 in October. Most of the claims were filed in manufacturing, administrative and support services, health care and social assistance, accommodations and food services and retail trade. However, over the year, claims were down by 274, or 0.9 percent, from 29,629 in October 2015.
