Northeast Georgia lowers unemployment rate in April

Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said Thursday that the Northeast Georgia region saw its unemployment rate fall in April. The 10-county area also posted monthly losses in labor force. Meanwhile, the number of employed residents increased in April.

“We saw every region lower its rate and, in most of these cases, break its previous record,” Butler said. “If we can continue to grow our labor force, the future looks strong.”

The Northeast Georgia region includes Barrow, Clarke, Elbert, Greene, Jackson, Jasper, Madison, Morgan, Newton, Oconee, Oglethorpe, and Walton counties.

The unemployment rate in the Northeast Georgia region fell 0.5 % in April, settling at 3 %. in April. A year ago, the rate was 3.5 percent. The labor force fell in April by 3,432 to a total of 302,134. That number is down by 1,614 from the total from April 2018. The region ended April with 293,204 employed residents.  This number decreased by 1,595 in April but went up 163 when compared to a year ago.

The number of unemployment claims increased in April by about 4 %. When compared to last April, claims were down by about 16 %.

Employ Georgia, the GDOL’s online job listing service at employgeorgia.coms showed 3,682 active job postings in Northeast region for April. There are currently 101,700 active job postings in the state of Georgia. The unemployment rate for the state is listed at 3.9%.