Unemployment rates decline in metro Albany, Southwest Georgia

ALBANY — The Georgia Department of Labor announced Thursday that the metropolitan Albany area’s unemployment rate for July was 6.3 percent, down from 6.6 percent in June.

Meanwhile, the July unemployment rate in the Southwest Georgia region was 6.3 percent, down from 6.4 percent in June.

The unemployment rate in July 2015 was 7.7 percent for metro Albany. Over the same period, the rate in Southwest Georgia was 7.5 percent.

“Overall, the local labor market remains good despite some decline in jobs in July,” said Aaron Johnson, assistant professor of economics at Darton State College. “When looking at the Albany metro area, we actually experienced the largest drop in the unemployment rate of the whole state with it falling 1.4 percent to 6.3 percent. Following close behind was Valdosta which saw a dip of 1.2 percent, so that shows that our region is starting to show some strength after a disappointing 2015.”

Labor Department officials said the metro rate fell as the number of employed residents grew to 62,540, while the number of unemployed residents fell to 4,223.

“(The metro Albany rate being down) mostly had to do with the fact we saw almost 130 people in the Albany area gain employment during the month of July, which is really good to see,” said State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler. “That means we have fewer unemployed individuals in the Albany area.”

The metro Albany labor force, which consists of employed people and those who are unemployed but actively looking for jobs, declined to 66,763 in July.

For Southwest Georgia, the rate fell as there were 273 fewer unemployed residents. The labor force decreased to 147,253, officials said Thursday.

The number of metro Albany jobs decreased by 300 to 61,700. Most of the job losses came in government, including the public schools on summer break. Over the year, Albany gained 1,400 jobs, a 2.3 percent growth rate, from July 2015 primarily in the goods-producing sector — which includes manufacturing and construction — along with government and other services, such as trade, transportation and warehousing, labor officials said.

“Even with the drop in July, we are still experiencing solid job growth since last year,” Johnson said. “Our year-to-year job growth of 2.3 percent is much better than last year and ahead of the U.S. pace of 1.8 percent. I think we can attribute most of the improvement to a rebound in housing. When people are buying more homes, that leads to greater economic activity across the board as people are more likely to buy furniture, household appliances, and lawn care.​”

The number of initial claims for unemployment insurance, the measurement used for new layoffs, was reported to have declined by 3.8 percent to 585 in July. Most of the decrease came in construction.

“(The 3.8 percent decrease) is a small decrease, but any decrease is a good decrease when it comes to claims for unemployment,” Butler said.

Over the year, claims were down from 613 in July 2015 in metro Albany.

Officials said the number of initial claims for unemployment insurance in Southwest Georgia rose by 4.5 percent to 1,118 in July. Most of the increase came in manufacturing. Over the year, claims were down by 216, or 16.2 percent, from 1,334 in July 2015.

In a county-by-county breakdown of Georgia unemployment rates for July, Dougherty was at 6.9 percent, Lee was at 4.9 percent, Worth was at 5.9 percent, Baker’s was 8 percent and the Terrell rate was 6.4 percent, the state Labor Department said.

Out of 14 metro areas in Georgia, Gainesville had the lowest rate for July at 4.6 percent, while Rome had the highest at 6.6 percent. Of 11 regional areas, the Georgia Mountains area had the lowest at 4.8 percent while the Heart of Georgia-Altamaha region had the highest rate at 7 percent.

Georgia’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate for July was 5 percent, down from 5.1 percent in June. It was 5.7 percent in July 2015.

Job seekers and employers are encouraged to use the online job listing service, employgeorgia.com, to search for jobs or recruit new employees. In July, 710 new job openings in Albany, along with 1,229 new job openings in the Southwest Georgia region, were posted on Employ Georgia.

“So, if people are concerned about there not being jobs available, we encourage you to go to employgeorgia.com, especially here in the Albany area where we have seen over 700 jobs posted in the last 30 days,” Butler said. “(The jobs posted) truly kind of run throughout most all of the sectors, so what you’re going to find out is that a lot of these jobs do require some type of training.

“You are probably going to see somewhere between 50-60 percent of them (requiring) a two-year degree or higher. However, there are jobs for just about everyone out there.”

Throughout the state, 69,064 new job openings were posted on Employ Georgia.

Additional state labor market data can be found at dol.georgia.gov.