Unemployment declines in Albany, Southwest Georgia

ALBANY — The Georgia Department of Labor announced Thursday that metropolitan Albany’s unemployment rate for March was 6.5 percent, down from 6.6 percent in February. At the same time, the unemployment rate in the Southwest Georgia region in March was 6.4 percent, down from 6.6 percent in February.

The metro Albany rate was 6.9 percent, and 6.8 percent in Southwest Georgia, at the same time last year.

“While we’re still ahead of last year’s pace for job growth, private sector activity has subsided a bit,” Aaron Johnson, assistant professor of economics at Darton State College. “That could be attributed to the gradual rise in gas prices that we’ve seen. If gas prices continue to rise, it might cause consumers to restrain their spending as gas prices eat up more their spending budget.”

The area’s rate declined as the number of employed residents increased by 362 to 62,251. The number of jobs actually decreased over the month by 200, mostly in trade, transportation and warehousing, the Labor Department said.

Officials said Thursday that, over the year, Albany has gained 800 jobs, a 1.3 percent growth rate from 60,900 in March 2015, primarily in the service-related industries such as retail trade and the goods-producing sector, which includes manufacturing and construction.

The number of initial claims for unemployment insurance increased by 45, or 8.4 percent, in March. Most of the increase was in manufacturing. Over the year, claims are up by 13, or 2.3 percent, from 569 in March 2015.

State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler seemed optimistic Thursday about the outlook in metro Albany and Southwest Georgia.

“We had some interesting numbers in the Albany area,” he said in a statement. “Even though we’re showing that Albany actually shed about 200 available jobs during the month of March, we actually saw over 300 individuals actually gain employment and go back to work, so that, overall, is good news. However, over the year, Albany is showing a fairly strong growth rate of 1.3 percent, which represents 800 more available jobs today than we had the same time last year.”

The Southwest Georgia rate declined as the number of employed residents increased by 2,513 to 138,288. At the same time, the number of initial claims for unemployment insurance increased in the region by 9.1 percent to 1,120 in March, mostly in manufacturing, real estate, rental and leasing, labor officials said.

Over the year, officials said, claims are up by 1.1 percent in Southwest Georgia, from 1,108 in March 2015. Metro Albany’s labor force increased by 326 to 66,565, while Southwest Georgia’s labor force increased by 2,326 to 147,727.

A breakdown of the Labor Department’s unemployment rates by county for March showed a rate of 7.1 percent for Dougherty, 4.9 percent for Lee, 6.1 percent for Worth, 7.1 percent for Terrell and 7.4 percent for Baker.

Of the 14 metro areas, Gainesville had the lowest unemployment rate for March at 4.5 percent, and Dalton had the highest at 6.8 percent. Of the 11 regional areas, the Georgia Mountains area had the lowest rate at 4.7 percent, and River Valley had the highest at 6.9 percent.

Georgia’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate for March was 5.5 percent, up from 5.4 percent in February. It was 6.2 percent in March 2015.