Georgia's Unemployment Rate Has Dropped by Almost a Full Point in a Year

Georgia's unemployment rate has dropped to 8.2% in April. This is down from 8.4% in March and down from 9.1% last April.

Georgia Department of Labor Commissioner, Mark Butler, says many of the new jobs being createed are in construction and that we have reached construction job levels not seen since 2007.

According to a Department of Labor press release, 

“At 8.2 percent, Georgia’s unemployment rate is the lowest it’s been since December 2008,” said State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler. “While a two-tenths of a percent drop in one month is good to see, the most important part of that is that we saw Georgia employers create over 31,000 jobs.”

The addition of 31,200 new jobs in April pushed the overall number to 4,026,900, up by eight-tenths of a percentage point from 3,995,700 in March. Most of the job gains came in leisure and hospitality, 10,700; professional and business services, 9,400; trade and transportation, 7,500; education and health services, 2,600; and construction, 1,800.

“We're seeing a lot of positives in construction,” Butler added. “When we look at over-the-year growth in construction jobs, we’re seeing our best numbers since 2007, which predates the recession.”

Butler said Georgia added 900 construction jobs between April 2012 and April 2013. Georgia’s over-the-year growth added 69,400 jobs, or 1.8 percent, since 3,957,500 were recorded in April 2012. Other sectors showing strong growth were: professional and business services, 31,000; leisure and hospitality, 16,100; education and health services, 14,000; and trade and transportation, 12,700. Government jobs were down by 10,500.