Georgia’s Jobless Rate Hits Lowest Level In Nearly 10 Years
State labor officials say Georgia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate has dropped to 4.8 percent — the lowest level since September 2007.
The Georgia Department of Labor on Thursday announced the June unemployment figure. It is the fifth month in a row that the state’s jobless rate has declined.
State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said in a statement that Georgia’s unemployment rate is the lowest it has been in almost 10 years because employers continue to create jobs.
“We’re showing a little over 120,000 more jobs today in Georgia than we had this time last year,” Butler said.
Kennesaw State University economist Roger Tutterow said a broad range of Georgia professions are hiring.
“The strongest growth is coming in construction, which has certainly rebounded after dropping off so much during the recession of 2008 to 2009. Good gains in the areas of professional and business services, in health care, and, of course, in leisure and hospitality,” Tutterow said.
He expected healthy job gains to continue.
“Over the last three years, we have been among the 10 fastest growing states in the nation in terms of gains in non-farm payrolls, and we expect that will be the case in the balance of the year, and well into 2018,” Tutterow said.