Georgia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for June rose to 7.4 percent, up two-tenths of a percentage point from May, the state’s Labor Department announced Thursday.
The rate in June of last year was 8.4 percent.
“Although the rate increased, it’s because of seasonal factors, such as the summer job loss among non-contract school workers and temporary layoffs, primarily in manufacturing,” said Labor Commissioner Mark Butler. “We also saw our labor force increase for the sixth month in a row.”
Butler said this increase was tempered by job growth, as Georgia employers have created 81,100 jobs since last June — the largest June-to-June job growth since 2006.
There were 4,108,100 jobs in Georgia in June, up 2 percent from June 2013. The big job gainers were in professional and business services, trade, transportation and warehousing, leisure and hospitality, and, to a smaller degree, manufacturing and construction. Government lost 5,700 jobs.
However, the number of jobs in June was down by 18,000, or 0.4 percent, from May. For the past three years, the state has lost an average of 18,000 seasonal jobs from
May to June.
Metro Savannah gained about 3,600 jobs from June 2013 to 2014 for a total of 165,000.
Statewide, the labor force increased to 4,782,425, up by 2,007 in May.
There were 37,917 new claims for unemployment insurance filed in June, an increase of 4,726, or 14.2 percent in May. Of the increase, 3,376 claims were in manufacturing.
In metro Savannah, there were 1,426 initial claims for unemployment benefits in June, a 23 percent drop over the year but about 10 higher than last month. Chatham County comprised most of those claims at 1,157, about 400 fewer than June 2013.
BY THE NUMBERS
Savannah Initial Claims for Unemployment
June 2013: 1,854
June 2014: 1,426
Percent Change: -23.1%
Net Change: -428
Savannah Job Gains/Losses
June 2013: 161,400
June 2014: 165,000
Percent Change: +2.2%
Net Change: +3,600
Source: Workforce Statistics & Economic Research, GDOL