Georgia’s unemployment rate down in April

ATLANTA — State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said in a news release that Georgia’s April unemployment rate continued to fall.

Butler also noted that preliminary numbers showed year-over-year gains in jobs, employment and work force. At the same time, claims for unemployment insurance were down when compared to last April.

“The annual numbers continue to be strong,” Butler said. “While April numbers were somewhat down, the long-term numbers all trend in the right directions.”

Nationally, the unemployment rate dropped to 3.6% in April. Georgia’s rate also fell to 3.8%, a drop of 0.1 percentage point.

A year ago, Georgia’s unemployment rate sat at 4.2%.

Meanwhile, Georgia’s job total fell by 14,900 in April. The total was 4.59 million jobs. Even with the monthly loss, Georgia was still up nearly 70,000 jobs when compared to last April.

“You see this happen from time to time,” Butler said. “Monthly numbers fluctuate. But all the trends look good.”

For annual job growth, the top sectors were:

♦ Education/health services, 18,900;

♦ Professional/business services, 14,700; and

♦ Leisure/hospitality, 13,500.

The monthly losses in labor force and employed residents were much smaller. Both dropped much less than 0.5%.

Georgia’s labor force slipped by 10,247 versus a total work force of more than 5.1 million. And, even with the monthly loss, the labor force grew by more than 4,000 from the same month a year ago.

The change in employed residents was even smaller, just 6,882 lost among a total of 4.91 million. Again, even with the monthly loss, the annual number was still up by 17,563.

At the same time, new claims for unemployment were up by about 12% compared with last month. For the year, they were down by 2%.

Job postings on EmployGeorgia.com settled in April at 80,227.

Visit dol.georgia.gov to learn more about career opportunities, about Employ Georgia and other GDOL services for job seekers and employers, and to connect with the daprtment on social media.

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