A decade’s worth of October rates
2006 — 4.6%
2007 — 4.9%
2008 — 7.5%
2009 — 10.5%
2010 — 10.5%
2011 — 9.9%
2012 — 8.6%
2013 — 7.6%
2014 — 6.8%
2015 — 5.7%
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
Strong job growth helped lower Georgia’s jobless rate in October to 5.7 percent, the state labor department reported Thursday.
The rate stood at 5.8 percent in September.
And, despite skittishness over foreign trade, manufacturing and the energy sector, a bevy of economists expect the slow-but-steady growth in jobs to continue into 2016.
“The economy is growing at a moderate pace,” said Dennis Lockhart, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta in prepared remarks Thursday to the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce. “Employment conditions are undeniably, in my opinion, much improved relative to even a year ago.”
Lockhart’s remarks didn’t directly address the Fed’s decision next month about raising interest rates, but he said: “I’m comfortable with moving off zero soon, conditioned on no marked deterioration in economic conditions.
“Given my reading of current conditions and my outlook views,” he continued, “I believe it will soon be appropriate to begin a new policy phase.”
Georgia’s unemployment was 6.8 percent in October 2014. The state has since added 97,000 jobs, including 29,000 in October alone. The October jobless rate is the lowest since March 2008.
Warehouses, trucking companies, factories, state and local governments are hiring across Georgia. Computer techs, accountants, consultants and a slew of service-industry workers are getting jobs, too.
Rajeev Dhawan, director of Georgia State’s Economic Forecasting Center, predicts employment growth will slow next year to 74,000 jobs.
There are other indications that Georgia’s employment engine runs with an unwelcome restrictor plate. The jobless rate has remained above the national average — currently 5 percent — each of the last eight years.
Layoffs, as measured by initial claims for unemployment insurance, rose 10 percent between September and October, according to the labor department. Nearly 30,000 Georgians filed first-time claims.
“However, most of that is attributed to temporary layoffs in manufacturing and most of those individuals have gone back to work,” said Georgia labor commissioner Mark Butler.
Claims, overall, are 10 percent fewer than in October 2014.
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