Job opportunities looking good in Albany

ALBANY – Economic opportunity can make, or break, a community determining the very quality of life for the citizens who live there. And, according to Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler, those types of opportunities, namely jobs, are looking pretty good in Albany as the city posted its lowest unemployment rate in nearly two decades.

“First of all, we saw the unemployment rate decrease by one-tenth of a point, bringing it down to 4.2 percent,” Butler said Thursday. “Which, by the way, is the lowest that the unemployment rate has been in 18 years.”

According to reports, May unemployment numbers of 4.2 percent tied the record low set in November of 2000. Last year in May, the rate was 5.5 percent.

Albany also posted other indicators of positive economic growth, Butler said.

“We saw very good jobs numbers (in Albany) behind that rate decrease,” Butler said. “We also saw a labor force increase, we saw jobs increase, but most importantly, the one thing that stood out the most was that we saw the numbers of individuals actually being able to get a job increase by over 400 individuals.”

Butler explained that the increases have continued not just for the last month, but for the entire previous year.

“This is a great increase over the month,” Butler said. “As a matter of fact, over the last 12 months we have seen over 1,600 individuals actually gain employment in the Albany area, which is a great increase over the last year.”

Reports indicate Albany added 200 jobs for the month, pushing its total to 63,200, making the yearly jobs increase around 500.

Other factors contributed to the city’s employment growth, including the fact that Albany gained 428 new employed residents during May.

At 65,842 total employed residents, Albany is up by 1,633 for the year.

Butler pointed out that the labor force also saw gains last month, increasing by 379 to 68,740, a gain of 810 for the year.

“Georgia’s employment numbers remain strong,” Butler said. “Across the state, the unemployment rate either remained steady or dropped.”

GDOL’s five-county Albany metropolitan statistical area includes Baker, Dougherty, Lee, Terrell and Worth counties.

For more information or online job listings, visit employgeorgia.com, which showed 544 active job postings in metro Albany for May, or dol.georgia.gov to learn more about career opportunities.