Columbus metro area unemployment rate unchanged at 6.8 percent in February

There was no movement up or down in the Columbus metro area unemployment rate in February, with it unchanged from January at 6.8 percent, the Georgia Department of Labor reported Thursday.

The current jobless figure compares to 7.2 percent in February a year ago.

The metro area with the lowest unemployment rate in February was Gainesville at 4.6 percent. Columbus is the highest in the state, trailed closely by Albany at 6.6 percent and Dalton at 6.4 percent.

“Columbus is a little bit different than a lot of other places around the state,” said Georgia Labor Commission Mark Butler. “A lot of it has to do with the fact that it has such a large military base, which can cause a lot of ebbs and flows in the employment picture.”

Drilling further into the numbers, he said, shows the military installation can generate “long-term temporary” jobs, such as construction, that can be here one year, but gone the next. Thus, the workforce changes and “it can really havoc on that (unemployment) number.”

The Columbus metro area saw its job total dip by 200 from January to February, with there currently 121,000 positions locally. The Columbus metro area includes Muscogee, Harris, Chattahoochee and Marion counties in Georgia, and Russell County in Alabama. The decline in jobs was primarily in local government and retail, the department said.

Year over year, the local area added 400 jobs, with those coming in trade, transportation and warehousing.

“If you take a look at this last month, you saw initial claims decrease by almost 50 percent,” Butler said of Columbus. “That means fewer companies laying off. That’s good. We’re seeing more individuals actually return back into the workforce, which means discouraged workers who either decided there wasn’t anything out there for them, or maybe they went back and got some additional training, we’re seeing those individuals come back. That’s something you typically don’t see if your economy is bad. You see that when your economy starts getting better because people want to go back and try to find a job.”

First-time claims for unemployment assistance in the Columbus area dropped more than 48 percent from January to February, the department reported, with 789 individuals filing for jobless benefits. That was 744 fewer than in January and 60 fewer than in February a year ago.

First-time claims are an indication of new layoffs by employers. The January-to-February decrease came in the sectors of manufacturing, construction, accommodations, food services, administrative and support services, and arts, entertainment and recreation.

“So overall, even though over-the-year job growth was not as strong as we would like to see, I think what you’re going through right now in Columbus is kind of a smoothing out period,” the commissioner said.

The news of the painfully high unemployment rate comes with Wal-Mart on Wednesday saying it is now taking applications to fill about 150 full- and part-time jobs at its supercenter now under construction on Victory Drive. The store opens this summer, although workers will be needed by May to get it ready, the retailer said.

For those who are able and willing to travel, Blue Bird Corp., located in Fort Valley, Ga., about 75 miles east of Columbus and near Interstate 75, said Tuesday it is adding 200 workers for a second shift at its school bus manufacturing plant. The work is in the body assembly facility and will include QuickStart training. Blue Bird built 10,400 buses last year and expects to assemble as many as 11,000 this year.

For Georgia overall, its February unemployment rate, reported last week, was 5.4 percent, which compares to 6.2 percent in February the year before.

This story was originally published March 24, 2016 at 10:51 AM with the headline "Columbus metro area unemployment rate unchanged at 6.8 percent in February."