Georgia’s unemployment rate declined to 7.0 percent in March from 7.1 percent in February to hit the lowest level since September 2008, the state labor department said Thursday.
“This is the ninth month in a row that Georgia’s unemployment rate has dropped,” state Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said in a statement. “It’s down because we continue to see employers creating more jobs and laying off fewer workers. We added 27,400 jobs, which is the most February-to-March job growth we’ve seen in 10 years.”
The number of jobs increased to 4,064,200 in March, up 0.7 percent from February.
Most of the job gains came in leisure and hospitality — 8,400 new jobs; professional and business services — 6,600; trade, transportation and warehousing — 6,100; manufacturing — 2,400; education and health services — 1,300; government — 900; and construction — 700.
Over the past year, the number of jobs increased by 69,000, or 1.7 percent, from March 2013. A year ago, the jobless rate was 8.4 percent.
The big annual gainers were trade, transportation and warehousing — 22,300 new jobs; leisure and hospitality — 16,700; professional and business services — 15,500; education and health services — 8,400; construction — 7,400, and manufacturing — 5,100.
“Construction continues to be our fastest growing sector, with an over-the-year growth rate of 5.2 percent,” said Butler.
By contrast, government lost 12,500 jobs during the last year.
“In addition to good job growth,” Butler said, “we had the fewest new claims for unemployment insurance that we’ve had in seven years. This means more people are keeping their jobs, which is another sign of a strengthening economy.”
There were 30,814 new claims for unemployment insurance filed in March — a drop of 23.6 percent from February. This is the fewest number of claims since February 2007.
Most of the decline in claims came in manufacturing — 4,876; construction — 2,076; and administrative and support services — 1,243.
Georgia’s unemployment rate continues to be above the national rate, currently 6.7 percent.
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