March was a strong month for employment in the Gainesville metro, according to numbers released Thursday morning by the Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL).
State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said key metrics for the Gainesville area are trending in the right directions.
Preliminary numbers showed Gainesville posted monthly gains in jobs and employed residents. Meanwhile, the number of unemployment claims decreased, and the unemployment rate dropped for the one-county metropolitan statistical area (MSA).
"Overall, March was a very good month," Butler said. "Georgia’s economy, just like the nation’s, is running strong. Our communities are consistently adding jobs and unemployment rates are falling. The numbers continue to improve."
Gainesville ended March with 94,900 jobs. That’s an increase of about 3,500 from the job total as of a year ago and it’s up 300 from last month’s total, Butler said.
Gainesville also posted gains for jobs in private services.
The unemployment rate fell in March, dropping by 0.2 percentage points to settle at 3%. A year ago, the rate was 3.2%.
Nationally, the rate for March remained unchanged at 3.8%.
The labor force decreased in March by 155 to reach 103,407. That number is up by 1,505 from the total of March 2018.
Gainesville ended March with 100,301 employed residents. The number climbed by 56 in March and was up by 1,699 over March 2018’s total.
The numbers of unemployment claims fell in March by 20 percent and were up by 32 percent from the same period last year.
Claims were down in:
- Administrative/support services
- Construction.
Employ Georgia, the GDOL’s online job listing service at employgeorgia.com showed 1,044 active job postings in metro Gainesville for March.
