Georgia unemployment rate slips lower in October, job total rises

Georgia’s unemployment rate slipped from 4.4 percent in September to 4.3 percent in October, the state’s labor department reported Thursday.

The slight decline came with Georgia’s job total rising to just over 4.5 million, which the department said is higher than the state’s previous record total of 4,497,700 in August. The following month, Hurricane Irma stormed northward from Florida to slice 3,400 jobs from the state total, the agency noted.

In fact, Georgia has added 87,800 jobs over the past year, amounting to a 2 percent growth rate. That’s better than the U.S. growth rate of 1.4 percent. From September to October, the state gained 15,800 positions.

Meanwhile, initial or first-time unemployment claims jumped nearly 10 percent in October to 27,040, with much of the increase linked to temporary benefit filings in the manufacturing sector, the department said. Initial claims typically are a sign of new layoffs by employers. However, first-time filings for jobless assistance are down nearly 8 percent from 29,355 in October 2016.

As of this October, there were 219,660 people officially classified as unemployed in Georgia, with 72,400 of those falling into the category of “long-term unemployed,” the department said.

The agency will release the October jobless rates for Georgia’s metro areas next week. The Columbus rate in September was 4.9 percent, down from 5.7 percent in August.

This story was originally published November 16, 2017 at 11:26 AM with the headline "Georgia unemployment rate slips lower in October, job total rises."