ATLANTA – Georgia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for August was 8.1 percent, up four-tenths of a percentage point from a revised 7.7 percent in July, the Georgia Department of Labor announced today. The rate in August of last year was 8.2 percent.
Despite the higher jobless rate, the state had “good job growth,” said Labor Commissioner Mark Butler.
He said the state had 24,700 new jobs since July and 79,300 more jobs than a year earlier while layoffs decreased 27 percent.
“With continued job growth and fewer layoffs, we would expect the rate to come down,” Butler said.
The Savannah metro area gained 3,900 jobs from August 2013 – from 161,400 to 165,300 – a 2.4 percent improvement.
New unemployment claims in Savannah dropped by 117 year to year, from 1,195 to 1,078, down 9.8 percent.
Hinesville gained 400 jobs year over year – from 19,700 to 20,100 – a 2.0 percent increse. New unemployment claims were down by 49, from 203 to 154, a 24.1 percent drop.
Statewide, Georgia had 4,132,900 jobs in August, the most since June 2008.
“Our over-the-year job growth, which was an impressive 2.0 percent, was the second largest for August since 2005 and came in all the important job sectors,” said Butler.
The gains were in professional and business services, 25,400; leisure and hospitality, 16,100; trade and transportation, 13,200; manufacturing, 9,900; construction, 5,900; education and health services, 5,700; information services, 1,500; other services, 1,000; government, 300; and financial activities, 100.
There were 31,122 new claims for unemployment insurance filed in August, a decrease of 11,536, from 42,658 in July. Over the year, initial claims were down by 12.3 percent.
Most of the decline over the year came in trade, transportation and warehousing, construction, administrative services, and health care and social assistance.