Five facts to know about Georgia’s 5.5 percent jobless rate
Georgia’s unemployment rate held steady at 5.5 percent in April, even though the economy added jobs, the state labor department said Thursday.
The reason the rate didn’t fall was that more than 13,000 people entered the workforce, so there were slightly more new jobseekers than jobs.
Still, the unemployment rate has drifted downward since April of last year when it was 6.1 percent. However, Georgia’s rate is still higher than the national average of 5.0 percent.
Here’s what is going on:
— It was a better than average April for job growth. From March to April, the number of jobs in the state rose 10,600 to total 4,371,300.
— The sectors that added employees included professional and business services, which added more than half of the new jobs, but also information services, manufacturing, and trade, transportation and warehousing.
— There were only a few sectors with job losses, including government, education and health services and financial activities.
— Employers laid off fewer people. There were 26,345 new claims for unemployment insurance in April, a very slight decline from March and a 5 percent decrease from a year ago. Most of that decrease came in construction, which has done well of late.
— Over the past year, the state has added 140,800 jobs.
