In March, the coronavirus pandemic was just beginning to impact the Georgia economy, and numbers released Thursday morning by the State Labor Department reflect the severity of the crisis.
Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said initial unemployment claims for the Gainesville metro area, along with all MSAs throughout the state, drastically increased in March.
The number of unemployment claims went up by 1,655 percent in March, which directly correlated with the number of temporary lay-offs associated with COVID-19. When compared to last March, claims were up by about 1,547 percent. In Gainesville, the unemployment rate increased by 0.6 percentage points in March, reaching 3.4 percent. A year ago, the rate was 3 percent.
"Although we are seeing the effects of COVID-19 throughout the state in spikes in unemployment, we are working very diligently to come up with solutions to get Georgians back to work as soon as it is safe to do so," Butler said.
Gainesville ended March with 93,800 jobs. That number remained flat from April to March and was up by 800 when compared to this time last year.
The labor force decreased in March by 883 and ended the month with 102,923. That number is up 1,024 when compared to March of 2019.
Gainesville finished the month with 99,375 employed residents. That number decreased by 1,576 over the month but is up by 509 when compared to the same time a year ago.
Employ Georgia, the GDOL’s online job listing service at employgeorgia.com showed about 854 active job postings in metro Gainesville for March.
