Georgia jobless rate 5.5 percent; Columbus job growth weakest in state

Georgia’s unemployment rate remained unchanged from December to January at 5.5 percent, the state’s labor department reported Thursday.

That also is not much better than the 5.6 percent figure from January 2016, said the agency, which pointed out the 6,500 jobs created across the state in January was nearly twice the growth from December to January over the past three years.

(Convergys to hire more than 150 employees for Columbus center)

“While the rate was unchanged, our employers continued to create jobs, our labor force continued to grow and more people went to work,” Georgia Department of Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said in a statement. “This is a good way to start off a new year.”

In metro area data reported Thursday, the Columbus area added 400 jobs year over year, with its total at 120,300. That was the weakest job creation across Georgia over that period, with Atlanta gaining 96,800 positions, while Savannah and Augusta picked up 5,800 and 5,700 jobs, respectively. Gainesville saw an increase of 2,900, with Albany and Warner Robins adding 2,000 apiece, Athens gaining 1,600 and Rome 1,100.

Those numbers come with announcements in recent weeks that aerospace firm Pratt & Whitney plans to spend $386 million to expand its Columbus plant and increase its workforce by about 500 over five years. The U.S. Army also will be putting a Security Force Assistance Brigade at Fort Benning by October, bringing 500 troops here. That’s on top of a Military Adviser Training Academy that is generating between 80 and 100 positions locally.

(Pratt & Whitney adding 500 jobs in Columbus with $386 million expansion)

Year over year, Georgia has gained 114,700 jobs, giving the state 4,442,200 altogether in January. Leisure and hospitality was the biggest gainer with 26,100 new positions, the department said, followed by professional and business services with 19,300, trade, transportation and warehousing with 18,500, education and health services with 15,600, government with 11,300, financial activities with 8,300, construction with 7,100, and manufacturing with 6,800.

The labor force across the state in January was 4,998,652, which is just under 142,000 higher than a year ago. Labor force is the total number of people employed and unemployed but actively seek work.

First-time, or initial, unemployment claims statewide were 49,718, which is down about 4,500 from January a year ago. Sectors experiencing the largest drops over that period were manufacturing, construction, and administrative and support services accounting.

The labor department will release January unemployment rates for Georgia’s metro areas next week. The Columbus-area rate in December was 6.3 percent.

This story was originally published March 9, 2017 at 11:33 AM with the headline "Georgia jobless rate 5.5 percent; Columbus job growth weakest in state."