Georgia labor force shows another month of strong growth as jobless rate stays low
The Georgia Department of Labor released new job figures on Thursday, May 18.
David Goldman / Associated Press
More workers are looking for and finding jobs in Georgia as the state’s unemployment rate stays low.
Georgia’s unemployment rate remained at 3.1% in April for the ninth month in a row, although that’s up from the all-time low of 2.9% in April 2022.
Beyond the stable jobless rate, there’s other good news in the labor force. After months of stagnation, the labor force added more than 10,000 workers for the second straight month, showing that the number of job seekers has not hit a ceiling.
The labor force and the number of people working in Georgia both hit all-time highs again, while the number of people who were unemployed was flat at 165,000.
The number of workers on Georgia employer payrolls — the top labor market measure for many economists — is measured by a separate survey.
Payrolls rose by 10,000 from March to April, reaching 4.89 million. That’s about 110,000 more than in April 2022.
The state released the figures Thursday. They are adjusted to cancel out typical seasonal fluctuations.
The nationwide unemployment rate fell to 3.4% in April from 3.5% in March. The national jobless rate was 3.6% a year ago.
About 5,000 Georgia workers filed for new unemployment benefits in the week that ended May 13.
The overall number of people collecting state unemployment was about 34,000 in the week that ended May 6.
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