State jobless rate up in May

Georgia’s unemployment rate rose last month to another high, echoing the national trend as it moved from 9.2 percent to 9.7 percent.

After several months of incremental increases, May’s number was “a stark reminder that the road to economic recovery will be long and difficult,” Georgia Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond said Thursday.

About 464,000 Georgians are out of work and hunting for a position, according to the Labor Department. With the economy struggling to turn around and many businesses scrambling to stay afloat, jobseekers outnumber openings roughly 5 to 1: The average duration of unemployment has been rising.

Lisa Clinton’s $15-an-hour job as an executive assistant for a small company ended abruptly in April —- and not because of a layoff. “I ended up quitting because my paycheck came back marked, ‘insufficient funds,’ ” said Clinton, 31, of Atlanta. “The boss said, ‘I’m sorry. I’m having problems with capital right now, if you could just bear with me.’ And I told him, ‘I believe in your vision. But there is no way I could work for free.’ “

The mother of two visits a local job center, sends out applications, puts resumes under doors and asks friends for leads. “I am trying to stay optimistic and stay hopeful,” she said. “You have to persevere when you have children. But I go to the career center and it is just full to capacity.”

Some companies are hiring. One is BigCrumbs.com, an Atlanta-based shopping site. Membership has doubled in the past year, said Kristy McCarley, vice president. “To accommodate our membership and growth, we hired, and we may be hiring more people in the future.”

But the state lost 211,000 jobs during the past 12 months —- more than one in every 20, the Labor Department said. May’s rate was the highest for Georgia since data was standardized in the 1970s. It was also higher than the national rate, 9.4 in May, for the 19th straight month.

Also Thursday, the federal government reported that unemployment rolls fell by 148,000 to 6.69 million in the week of June 6 —- the biggest decline in more than seven years. But a major reason is that more people exhausted their standard benefits. Still, some economists said it’s consistent with other recent figures that suggest the economy is poised to recover from recession by the third quarter.

Associated Press contributed to this article.