Local & State Headlines

Jobless claims keep rising

• Unemployment claims in metro Albany rose by 25 percent in June.

Susan McCord

ALBANY — Metro Albany continued to lose jobs last month, when unemployment in the five-county region rose to 6.2 percent, up from 5.8 percent in May and 5.1 percent in April, according to data from the Georgia Department of Labor.

Statewide, the unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.7 percent from May to June, but was up from June 2007, when it was 4.4 percent, and ahead of the U.S. rate in June of 5.5 percent, the labor department reported.

In metro Albany, 100 jobs were lost, in retail trade and private service providing, bringing the region’s total number of jobs down to 64,500, according to the labor department.

Economic conditions driving consumers to spend less are taking a toll on employers, who, saddled with Thursday’s 70-cent minimum wage increase, are forced to cut jobs, said Michael Rogers, Interim Dean of the College of Business at Albany State University.

“It’s going to get worse,” Rogers said. “The small employers are going to have higher costs. If they can’t cover those costs, they’re going to be laying folks off.”

The higher costs of fuel and food are leaving consumers with less to spend on items such as clothes and cars, he said.

“The cost of living in the energy sector is very high — I think it’s gone up 30 percent since January,” Rogers said. “The car market’s way down ... As we get laid off, we don’t have the money to go buy any more goods and services.”

Fortunately, unemployment benefits kick in for many individuals who lose their jobs, Rogers said.

Initial unemployment claims in Metro Albany rose some 24.7 percent in June to 843, up from 676 in May and up from 715 in June 2007.

“If we didn’t have that cushion, we’d really be in trouble,” he said.

Though Georgia’s universities are facing state cuts in funding, which amount to 5 percent reductions in every department, ASU’s business school will contribute four new Ph.D positions to the Albany job market next month, Rogers said.

Unemployment increased in each of the five counties included in Metro Albany, rising to 4.8 percent in Lee, 6.2 percent in Baker, 6.3 percent in Terrell, 6.5 percent in Worth and 6.8 percent in Dougherty, according to the labor department.

Unemployment in the labor department’s 14-county Southwest Georgia area also rose last month, to 6.2 percent, up from 5.8 percent in May and 5.4 percent in April.

The unemployment rate soared above 9 percent last month in several area counties outside metro Albany, including Calhoun, Irwin and Ben Hill.

Job losses in a smaller county’s largest employer can send unemployment skyrocketing, Rogers said.

“A city or county needs to be as diversified as it can get in terms of employment,” he said.

Rogers serves on the board of One Albany, a group of business leaders that recently took on a goal of eliminating poverty in the area during the next 10 years, he said.

The group will work with people who are unemployed to help them find sustainable jobs that reduce their reliance on public assistance, Rogers said.

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