Are we worried yet? Unemployment rate dips, but Georgia jobs down for second month in a row

The state has added more than 100,000 jobs in the past year, he said. “It’s a testament to the attractiveness of Georgia’s job market when we continue to see more and more individuals enter and re-enter the job market and find employment.”

Still it was a weaker than average May (were the hiring people stuck in traffic because of the I-85 collapse?).

Here are some things to mention if you want to sound smart around the water cooler talking about Georgia’s jobless rate:

1. Dueling data. The unemployment rate and job growth numbers come from separate surveys. They don't always agree.

Sometimes that means the economy is shifting through a transition. Sometimes it doesn’t mean much. It’s just one month, after all...

2. The Big Picture. Georgia's rate a year ago was 5.3 percent. It is still above the national rate – as it has been since 2007. The U.S. rate jobless rate is 4.3 percent.

But at least during the past several years, the pace of job growth in Georgia has been more rapid than the national expansion. 

3. Comparisons. It was a weaker than average May for job growth. During the five previous years, from April to May, the number of jobs in the state grew by an average of 10,600. 

4. How far we've come. When things were at their weakest – coming out of the 2007-09 recession – the Georgia jobless rate was 10.5 percent – not including many tens of thousands of people who had simply given up looking for work.

The rate is now back to where it was when the recession began more than ten years ago.

5. What unemployed means. There has been nearly seven years of job growth. The number of jobs in the state has increased by a very robust 600,000. Still, in Georgia's workforce of 5 million people, there are still nearly a quarter-million Georgians actively looking for work.

That is far lower than it was during the worst of the jobs crisis. But about 30 percent of the unemployed have been looking for more than six months. And anyone not actively looking for work is not officially counted as unemployed.

6. The glass half empty. The sectors losing jobs included professional and business services – the corporate sector – which shed 4,400.

But other declines came in leisure and hospitality, which dipped 2,200, manufacturing, which was down 2,000; and information services, 1,000.

7. The glass half full.

There was growth in logistics – trade, transportation and warehousing – which added 3,400; government, which grew by 2,400 and construction, up 1,400.

The state has its own site for job seekers. Click here http://dol.georgia.gov/find-job

Change in number of Georgia jobs for May 

2007 -- 5879

2008 -- 10522

2009 -- 3621

2010 -- 559

2011 -- 7750

2012 -- 341

2013 -- down 2614

2014 -- 3566

2015 -- 2508

2016 -- 8095

2017 -- down 3800

Unemployment rate in May 

​2007 -- 4.5 percent

2008 -- 5.9 percent

2009 -- 10.0 percent

2010 -- 10.3 percent

2011 -- 10.1 percent

2012 -- 9.2 percent

2013 -- 8.3 percent

2014 -- 7.2 percent

2015 -- 6.0 percent

2016 -- 5.3 percent

2017 -- 4.9 percent

Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Georgia Department of Labor

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