Metro Savannah jobless rate drops
The unemployment rate for metro Savannah was 7.4 percent in March, down from 7.7 percent in February, the state labor department reported Thursday.
That’s down from 8.3 percent in March 2012
The number of jobs in metro Savannah increased to 158,000, up by 500 from 157,500 in February. The biggest job gains were in leisure and hospitality and professional and business services, according to the Georgia Department of Labor.
Meanwhile, Georgia’s unemployment rate for March was 8.4 percent, two tenths of a percentage point down from 8.6 percent in February. The rate was at 9.1 percent in March a year ago.
The local area unemployment data are not seasonally adjusted.
UPS profit in first quarter rises 7 percent
United Parcel Service Co. said Thursday that first-quarter profit rose 7 percent to $1.04 billion.
The company’s adjusted profit was $1.04 per share, better than the $1 per share that analysts expected.
Daily package volume in the U.S. increased, and company revenue rose 2 percent to $13.43 billion, a bit less than Wall Street predicted.
Atlanta-based UPS is sticking with its forecast of 2013 adjusted earnings of $4.80 to $5.06 per share. Analysts expect $4.98 per share.
UPS also announced it will buy Hungarian pharmaceuticals-delivery company Cemelog Zrt. Financial terms were not disclosed.
AASU students win economics contest
Three students in the Department of Economics at Armstrong Atlantic State University have won the inaugural Monica Lewis Economic Policy Contest, an interdisciplinary call for new thinking on public policy issues.
The contest is supported by Dale Lewis, an Armstrong alumnus who is director of strategic analysis at CSX, and is named in memory of Lewis’ sister.
The winning team of Matthew Bryarly, Daniel McGann and Victoria Loper have received $7,500 for their project called “Analyzing Future Policies: Natural Gas and Its Role in the Future,” which involved the creation of a trade policy for U.S. natural gas.
GSU receives service award
Georgia Southern University has been named in the 2013 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll from the Corporation for National and Community Service.
During the 2011-12 academic year more than 3,900 students engaged in nearly 369,000 hours or more than 15,000 days of community service.
The work included the Community Liaisons program, which embeds 10 undergraduate students with nonprofit agencies to coordinate volunteers and special events; “The Empty Bowl” project to produce ceramic bowls that are filled with chili and sold to raise money for the Statesboro Food Bank; and the annual alternative spring break trip to the Bahamas to perform public service.