Georgia’s unemployment rate in March hit a record low, propelled by solid job growth, the state Department of Labor said Thursday,
The jobless rate, which includes only those who are looking for a job, edged down last month to 3.1% from an already-historic low of 3.2% in February. Georgia’s labor force also grew significantly in February, meaning more people sought work and the vast majority landed jobs.
During the month, the state’s economy added 12,100 jobs — more than double an average pre-pandemic March — with the hottest hiring in tech, corporate and health care positions.
The number of unemployed Georgians is now at its lowest level since June 2001.
Meanwhile, many job openings are going unfilled, forcing employers to sometimes offer dramatically higher pay, said Mark Butler, the state’s commissioner of labor.
Among the highest wage hikes are for jobs in fields that were rocked by the pandemic. Sectors like leisure and hospitality and health care lost tens of thousands of jobs during pandemic closures in the spring and summer of 2020. But as the economy rebounded, some of those sectors have struggled to find the workers they need to meet resurgent demand.
Average pay overall is up more than 9% in the state since February 2020, Butler said. Leisure and hospitality saw the biggest pay increase — 20% — in that time.
So far this year, Georgia’s economy has shrugged off winter’s omicron surge to keep growing through economic headwinds such as inflation, rising interest rates and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Early in the pandemic, Georgia’s leisure and hospitality companies hemorrhaged nearly 222,000 — roughly 44% of the sector’s total. Strong expansion has meant the recovery of most of those jobs, but many restaurants, bars and hotels have struggled to hire and keep workers.
The state’s job site lists the equivalent of about 300,000 unfilled positions, and more than 10% of them in health care, the most of any sector, according to Butler.
Health care wages are up 10.6% from pre-pandemic levels, he said.
The healthcare sector lost more than 72,000 jobs — 12% of the total — early in the pandemic when non-urgent and in-person services were curtailed. But it has been expanding in recent months and now has more workers than before COVID-19.
In sectors with shortages of job candidates, employers are poaching each other’s employees at an unprecedented pace, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Workers can often quit a job and snag something that pays more.
The average wage nationally rose at a 6% annual clip last month, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. For those switching jobs, wages grew at a 7.1% rate.
The federal government this week reported its index of prices was up 8.5% over the past 12 months. So, for many workers, higher costs of gasoline, food and housing swallowed those raises. However, there are at least some signs — like the recent dip in gas prices — that inflation has peaked, some experts say.
Georgia job growth in March
March 2022: 12,100
Average March job growth pre-pandemic: 4,600
Most ever: 28,400 (2014)
Worst losses, pre-pandemic: -25,300 (2009)
Worst losses, ever: -28,600 (2020)
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Georgia unemployment rate in March
Pre-pandemic: 3.6% (Feb. 2020)
Lowest, pre-pandemic: 3.4% (Nov. 2000, Nov. 2019)
Highest, pre-pandemic: 10.8% (Oct. 2009)
Highest, ever: 12.3% (April 2020)
Lowest ever: 3.1% (March 2022)
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Georgia unemployed and looking for work
Highest, pre-pandemic: 519,115 (Oct. 2009)
Lowest, past two decades: 143,260 (Nov. 2000)
Recent: 165,045 (March, 2022)
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