Georgia unemployment rate 5.3 percent in May, lowest since January 2008

Georgia’s unemployment rate hasn’t been this low since the housing market bubble burst in late 2007, igniting a financial crisis that engulfed the U.S. with an event known as the Great Recession.

The Georgia Department of Labor reported Thursday that the state’s jobless rate in May came in at 5.3 percent, which was the identical figure in January 2008, a month after economists declared the recession had started. The downturn officially lasted until June 2009, although recovery has been painfully slow.

The May rate of 5.3 percent for Georgia is down from 5.5 percent in April, and compares to 5.9 percent in May a year ago.

“May’s unemployment rate is the lowest we’ve had in eight years,” said Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler. “The rate dropped because more Georgians were working, we had the fewest unemployed workers since the beginning of the recession, and our labor force continued to increase.”

The data show 14,571 more Georgia residents with jobs in May, for a total of 4,601,711 people earning a paycheck now. At the same time, the number of unemployed people across the state dropped by 10,240 to 255,467. The overall labor force continued to grow in May to 4,857,178 and has increased by 72,755 since the first of this year.

Since May of last year, the department said, Georgia has added 124,600 job to give it a current total of 4,370,500, a growth rate of 2.9 percent, which compares to 1.7 percent nationally. Sectors experiencing large job increases year over year were professional and business services (30,000), trade, transportation and warehousing (27,200), leisure and hospitality (18,600), construction (13,400), and education and health services (13,200 combined). Government chipped in 6,900 jobs, while manufacturing created 6,700, and financial activities added 6,300. Information services lost 1,500 positions.

The labor department also reported that initial, or first time, filings for unemployment assistance climbed by more than 15 percent to 30,325 in May, with a third of those temporary. First-time claims are an indicator of fresh layoffs. Most of the new claims were in the manufacturing sector.

Metro area data released Thursday show Columbus adding 1,200 jobs over the past year, giving the city and surrounding area 123,200 jobs in all. Every metro area in Georgia added positions year over year, with the exception of Hinesville, which lost 100 jobs.

In terms of first-time unemployment filings, there were 10 more Columbus-area residents seeking assistance year over year, for a total of 679 individuals needing benefits after layoffs in May. Metro areas that saw declines in initial filings were Warner Robins, Macon, Savannah, Brunswick, Rome and Athens.

Metro area jobless rates for May will be released next week. The April rate for Columbus was 6 percent, which was down from 6.6 percent in March.

Butler on Thursday urged job seekers to visit his department’s online site, www.employgeorgia.com, to check out available positions statewide. He said there were 63,508 jobs posted there in May, with more than 60 percent of the positions requiring a two-year degree.

“So there are some good jobs being posted right now,” he said.

This story was originally published June 16, 2016 at 11:55 AM with the headline "Georgia unemployment rate 5.3 percent in May, lowest since January 2008."