Employment Gains for Georgia

The State of Georgia added more than 20,000 jobs during the month of June, according to the State Labor Commission.  At the same time, unemployment claims were near record lows. Nationally, the unemployment rate inched up 0.1 percentage point in June, reaching 3.7%.  Georgia’s rate dropped 0.1 percentage point to 3.7% in June. Meanwhile, the state added 20,200 jobs in June, pushing the total to 4.61 million jobs, which is a new record for the state.  That number is more than 80,000 from the same time last year. The number of employed Georgia residents went up for the first time in four months, with a gain of 2,175 in June. Georgia’s labor force slipped again in June, dropping by less than 1,500 versus a total workforce of more than 5.1 million.  Even with the monthly loss, the labor force total was still higher than the same month a year ago. In addition, fewer residents were filing new claims for unemployment in June. The 18,410 claims filed in June was the second-lowest filed in the past 45 years. New claims for unemployment were down by about 11% compared to May and when compared to last year, claims were down by 16%.