New jobs in Georgia, Jan.-May
Despite May’s anemic figure, the first five months of the year were relatively strong:
2016: 41,400
2015: 34,500
2014: 54,300
2013: 29,200
2012: 32,900
2011: 27,400
2010: 24,500
Source: Georgia Labor Department, Bureau of Labor Statistics
Georgia’s unemployment rate fell to its lowest rate in eight years despite anemic job growth during May, the state labor department said Thursday.
The May rate of 5.3 percent is down from 5.5 percent in April and 5.9 percent a year earlier. And while employers added just 200 jobs during the month, the labor force also grew.
That contrasts with the national report for May, which showed a troubling shrinkage of the labor force, or the total number of people employed or actively seeking work.
A declining jobless rate paired with labor force expansion is generally seen as good. But a decline coupled with a smaller labor force can mean many people have become too discouraged to keep looking for work.
The national report sparked debate among experts about whether the economy is slowing, perhaps because of global trade issues. Economists fear Georgia won’t be immune, especially if the pullback hurts exports and manufacturing.
Georgia did lose manufacturing jobs during May. Moreover, job growth overall has been a little less strong each of the past three months.
State labor commissioner Mark Butler emphasized the falling jobless rate.
“May’s unemployment rate is the lowest we’ve had in eight years,” Butler said in a news release. “The rate dropped because more Georgians were working, we had the fewest unemployed workers since the beginning of the recession, and our labor force continued to increase.”
Over the past 12 months, the state economy has added 124,600 jobs with expansion in nearly every sector. The labor force grew over the year as well.
It was, however, a weaker than average May. The 200 jobs added compared to an average of 8,700 jobs in May during each of the previous three years.
Another cautionary note: new claims for unemployment insurance, a measure of layoffs, rose 15.1 percent in May from April. Some of that is seasonal – the early onset of summer cuts — but claims were also 8 percent higher than May of last year.
Still, during the first five months of this year, Georgia has added 41,400 jobs – not as good as in 2014, but better than the same period last year.
Sectors adding employees included health care – a perennial growth engine in metro Atlanta – as well as financial activities and construction, which has prospered from a slew of major projects.
And despite years of steady hiring – in which Georgia has continually outpaced the national growth rate — the state’s economy is still making up ground lost in the recession.
The number of people employed in the state is still not back to the levels of early 2008, the number of unemployed – more than 266,000 – is still higher than in early 2008, and the unemployment rate is still higher than before the recession.
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