Highest unemployment rates
Georgia - 7.7 percent
Mississippi — 7.6 percent
Washington D.C. — 7.6 percent
Rhode Island — 7.4 percent
California — 7.3 percent
Lowest unemployment rates
North Dakota — 2.8 percent
South Dakota — 3.3 percent
Nebraska — 3.4 percent
Utah — 3.6 percent
Minnesota — 3.9 percent
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
For the third straight month, Georgia has the nation’s highest unemployment rate.
Georgia’s jobless rate — 7.7 percent in October — again surpassed traditional job laggards Mississippi and the District of Columbia, both coming in at 7.6 percent.
On the bright side, there’s only one way to go — down. And, if past holiday seasons are any guide, Georgia’s unemployment rate should drop for the remainder of the year and continue to decline into 2015. It did last year before bottoming out in April 2014 at 6.9 percent.
Then it started rising again, a sober signal that the state’s economic foundation remains squishy more than five years after the Great Recession technically ended.
“It looks like the state is coming into a pretty good holiday season, but we’re not adding really high-paid jobs at this point,” said Michael Wald, a former Bureau of Labor Statistics economist in Atlanta. “There’s a huge potential workforce that is not being employed.”
The state labor department released the month’s unemployment rate on Thursday. On Friday, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics issued the jobless rates for the 50 states and D.C.
The last three months have made for depressing reading for Georgians, though the bottom-of-the-barrel unemployment rankings did spice up the recently completed race for governor. Republican Gov. Nathan Deal parried attacks by Democratic opponent Jason Carter who questioned Deal’s stewardship of the state’s economy. Deal, nonetheless, beat Carter handily at the polls.
Deal’s defense: Georgia creates many private sector jobs; claims for unemployment insurance dwindle; and newcomers seeking jobs drive up the ranks of the jobless. There’s truth in much of what he says.
Nearly 96,000 jobs have been added to Georgia non-farm payrolls over the last year, according to the BLS. While 33,000 newly jobless Georgians sought unemployment insurance in October, insurance claims for the entire year have dropped 18 percent.
“Every year we’ll see certain manufacturers do temporary layoffs at this time of year, so it’s nothing to be alarmed about,” said Georgia labor commissioner Mark Butler. “There’s no doubt the private sector has done a really good job. We hear from our partners in the private sector every month and they are continuing to look for more and more talent.”
They’ve got a lot to choose from. Since 2000, the state has added 1.5 million people age 16 and older. Many, though, can’t find work.
Nearly 58 percent of working-age Georgians are employed. In 2000, 68 percent were, according to statistics crunched by economist Wald. The unemployment rate back then: 3.3 percent.
“The problem is with the younger people,” he said. “Some are postponing the job market because of schooling, but most are just not finding their way into the job market. There’s a crisis in employment for younger people.”
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