Georgia’s unemployment rate dipped from 5.8 percent to 5.7 percent in October, the state labor department said Thursday.
The rate has improved from 6.8 percent in October of last year and has fallen from a recession high of 10.5 percent. It had been above 6 percent from May of 2008 until August. Now, for three three months in a row that rtae has checked in below 6 percent – so it’s no fluke.
And that is very good, even if Georgia’s unemployment rate has been above the national average since October 2007.
Here’s what is going on:
— Employers are hiring more workers. The number of jobs grew by a very healthy 29,000 during the month, totaling 4,302,800 in the state. That is the best single month of growth since early in 2011.
— There was job growth in trade, transportation and warehousing, as well as professional and business services and government.
— Employers laid off more people during the month. But compared to a year ago, there was a 9.9 percent drop in first-time claims for unemployment benefits.
— Over the past year, the state has added 97,000 jobs. That brought the unemployment rate down from 6.8 percent in October of last year. But Georgia’s rate is still considerably higher than the 5.0 percent national average.
— In perhaps the best sign, the jobless rate fell even while the number of people in the labor force was going up. During October, the state’s labor force increased by 7,396.
And the worry: the strong October came largely because of success in the logistics and corporate sectors. But those are the very sectors that are currently threatened by global forces beyond our control. Weakness in trade with Europe and Asia, currency issues that make American exports more costly — those factors undermine companies and manufacturers that do business overseas.
And despite the strong October, the pace of slow growth for the year has slowed from a year ago. Looking back at job growth, 2014 was a better year than 2013, which was a better year than 2012, which was a better year than 2011, which was better than 2010, which was better than 2009.
There’s no obvious reason to expect job growth to end or the economy to crash back into a recession. But 2015 has broken the pattern of growing strength. Unless the next couple months are like October.
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