Unemployment down in Albany, Southwest Georgia

ALBANY — The Georgia Department of Labor announced Thursday that the unemployment rate for the metropolitan Albany area in August was 6.2 percent, down from 6.3 percent in July.

At the same time, the unemployment rate in the Southwest Georgia region in August was 6.1 percent, down from 6.3 percent in July.

The metro Albany rate was 7.1 percent, and 6.9 percent in Southwest Georgia, in August 2015.

The metro Albany rate fell as employers added more jobs and laid off fewer workers. The number of jobs increased by 100 to 61,900, with most of the job gains coming in retail trade and government, the Labor Department said.

Labor officials said the Southwest Georgia rate fell as employers laid off fewer workers. The number of initial claims for unemployment insurance declined by 14.8 percent in August, mostly in manufacturing. Over the year, claims were down by 91, or 8.7 percent, from August 2015.

Over the year, metro Albany gained 1,100 jobs, a 1.8 percent growth rate, with most of the gains coming from the service industries — including retail trade and government — along with the goods-producing sector, which includes construction, officials said.

The Labor Department said the number of initial claims for unemployment insurance in metro Albany declined by 132, or 22.6 percent, to 453 in August — primarily in manufacturing. Over the year, claims were down by 71, or 13.5 percent, from 524 in August 2015.

The metro Albany labor force, which consists of employed people and those who are unemployed but actively looking for jobs, declined by 488 to 66,197 in August. The number of employed residents decreased by 378 to 62,102, while the number of unemployed residents fell to 4,095, labor officials said.

Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said a drop in the labor force and a decrease in the number employed does sound bad, but that a deeper look into what was going on in the area’s work force helps to explain how that happened.

“We did see fewer people in the labor force, which means we (saw) some people drop out of the labor force, and we also saw fewer people employed,” he said. “Whereas that does sound bad, we also have to put that into the context of what month it was. During August, we see a lot of young people, especially college-age and also high school-age, who took on summer jobs, go back to school and therefore leave those jobs, which explains the labor force decrease and also the number of employed people decreasing.

“And (the) reason why that makes sense is that, even though you saw (the) labor force decrease and the number of employed people decrease, we also saw the number of people who were unemployed decrease, which shows you that it wasn’t an issue of the area losing employment.”

The Southwest Georgia labor force declined to 146,625 in August. The number of employed residents decreased by 293 to 137,683, while the number of unemployed residents fell by 262 to 8,942, labor officials said.

County unemployment rates released by the state Labor Department for August showed Dougherty to be at 6.8 percent, Lee at 4.7 percent, Worth at 5.8 percent, Baker at 8.3 percent and Terrell at 6 percent.

Analysis by state labor officials of the 14 metro areas showed the Gainesville area to have the lowest unemployment rate for August at 4.4 percent, while metro Columbus was tied with metro Albany for the highest rate. Of the 11 regional areas, the Georgia Mountains area had the lowest rate at 4.6 percent, while the Heart of Georgia-Altamaha region had the highest at 6.6 percent.

Georgia’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate for August was 4.9 percent, down from 5 percent in July. It was 5.6 percent in August 2015.

Job-seekers and employers are encouraged to use the state Labor Department’s online job listing service, employgeorgia.com, to search for jobs or recruit new employees. There were 610 new job openings in Albany, and 1,136 job openings in Southwest Georgia, posted on Employ Georgia in August.

“So, if you are out there right now looking for jobs, we encourage you to go to employgeorgia.com,” Butler said.

Throughout the state, 62,839 new job openings were posted on Employ Georgia last month.