Georgia’s unemployment rate edged up a tenth of percent to 6.3 percent in May, the state labor department said Thursday.
Here’s what is going on:
— A lot of employers are hiring, but the number of people entering the workforce grew just a little faster than the number of jobs. That means a higher unemployment rate.
The labor force grew by 7,379 from April. The economy added only 3,900 jobs.
— The sectors that added employees included professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, construction, and transportation and warehousing.
— Government payrolls lost jobs during month.
— Even as many employers hired, employers overall laid off more people. There was a 0.7 percent increase in first-time claims for unemployment benefits from April to May. Still, over the year, claims were down 15.8 percent from May of last year.
— Over the past year, the state has added about 114,900 jobs. That brought the unemployment rate down from 7.3 percent in May of last year. But Georgia’s rate is still considerably higher than the national rate of 5.5 percent.
— And a bonus fact: Officials sometimes revise rates when they have more information. April’s rate was originally reported as 6.3 percent, but revised down to 6.2 percent. That is why the rate for May announced today – 6.3 percent, the same rate announced originally for April – now looks like a slight increase.
