Unemployment in Georgia falls to 7.9 percent in September

Jobs report tile

Unemployment in Georgia fell last month for the first time since April but remained well above the U.S. average, the Georgia Department of Labor said today.

The jobless rate fell during September by two-tenths of a percent across Georgia to 7.9 percent as the restart of school both boosted government employment and cut the number of persons looking for work. Georgia's unemployment rate - the highest of any state in the country at 8.1 percent in August - fell last month in line with the overall drop in the U.S. jobless rate. But the national unemployment rate in September, 5.9 percent, remained a full 2 percentage points below the rate in the Peach State.

While the rate decreased last month, Georgia still lost 7,300 jobs in September, as the total number of jobs dropped to under 4.13 million. Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said the net loss was mostly due to seasonal factors with the biggest reduction being the loss of 9,200 jobs in leisure and hospitality as students left summer jobs to return to school.

Despite the overall loss, government gained 8,200 jobs in September, mostly in public schools, and other gains came in educational and health services and trade and transportation.

In spite of the monthly drop in employment, Georgia still showed strong job gains in the past year. Over the past 12 months, Georgia has added 80,000 net new jobs, growing employment at a healthy 1.9 percent annual pace.

"We continue to have strong over-the-year job growth," Butler said in a statement today. "Our impressive over-the-year growth keeps Georgia among the leading states for job creation. And, the growth is in every private sector job category we track, with government being the only sector showing a loss."

The over-the-year job gains were in professional and business services, 24,100; trade, transportation and warehousing, 18,800; leisure and hospitality, 14,300; manufacturing, 8,500; construction, 7,300; education and health services, 6,400; financial services, 1,000; and information services, 900. Government lost 1,500 jobs.