GA Dept of Labor Reports Unemployment Rate Drops to 4 Percent in June

The Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL) announced today that Georgia’s unemployment rate dropped another 0.1 percentage point to reach 4 percent in June, lower than the national rate of 5.9 percent and down eight and one-half percent from 12.5 percent in April 2020.

The labor force increased 3,000 over the month to over 5.1 million, up 178,000 since April 2020.  Georgia’s employed residents in June saw a monthly increase of 8,000, up 592,000 since April of last year to 4,956,857.  The number of unemployed dropped 5,000 from May to June to 208,033, down 414,000 since the beginning of the pandemic.  The number of jobs was up 32,800 in June, and up 464,000 since businesses began shutting their doors due to COVID 19.

“We have gained back 76 percent of the jobs lost in the pandemic and currently have over 190,000 job listings that need to be filled. We are working with employers across the state to fill those positions because if they continue to go unfilled, it will stall out new job creation,” said Commissioner Mark Butler. “Several job sectors are already breaking all-time highs as we continue to see Georgia’s economy recover.”

The state’s labor force participation rate for June 2021 was 61.6%, the same as the national rate. The labor force participation rate is defined as the percentage of the population old enough to work currently counted in the labor force. This rate measures how many Georgians are working or seeking work and is reflective of the total sum of unemployed and employed workers. Those identified as unemployed, but not actively seeking work in the past month, are not considered to be in the work force.

The jobs listed online at Employ Georgia exceed 193,000 job listings from a wide variety of sectors offering competitive wages and benefits. Jobs currently listed include Medical Logistics Associate ($40K annually), Line Cooks ($9 – $25 an hour), Plumber ($60 – $140K annually), Maintenance Workers ($10-$35 an hour), Warehouse Workers ($18.50 an hour), and Web Developer ($150K annually). In many cases, employers are willing to train quality candidates and assist with obtaining additional credentials.

The sectors with the most over-the-month job gains included Accommodation and Food Services, 6,500, Transportation and Warehousing, 4,800, Administrative and Support Services, 4,300, Local Government, 3,700, Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services, 2,900, Retail Trade, 2,600, Durable Goods Manufacturing, 2,500, Construction of Buildings, 2,000, Specialty Trade Contractors, 1,900, and Health Care and Social Assistance, 1,900.

Many jobs totals recorded all-time highs in June including 952,900 jobs in Trade, Transportation and Utilities, 251,600 jobs in the Transportation and Warehousing sector, 731,700 jobs in Professional and Business Services, 291,300 jobs in the Professional, Scientific & Technical sector, and 355,800 jobs in the Administrative and Support Services sector.

The GDOL has paid more than $22.8 billion in state and federal benefits in the past sixty nine weeks.  Last week, the GDOL issued $36 million in benefits, which included regular unemployment and federally funded Lost Wages Assistance (LWA) supplements, Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC), Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC), and State Extended Benefits.

Since week ending March 21, 2020, 4,973,450 regular UI initial claims have been processed, more than the ten years prior to the pandemic combined (4.8 million). Last week, regular UI initial claims totaled 14,475, down 5,286 over the week and the lowest weekly total since March 21, 2020. Initial claims are defined as any notice of unemployment filed to request a determination of entitlement to or eligibility of unemployment insurance compensation OR to begin a second or subsequent period of eligibility within a benefit year. Initial claims numbers are not a direct correlation to layoffs.

Resources for reemployment assistance along with information on filing an unemployment claim and details on how employers can file partial claims can be found on the agency’s webpage at dol.georgia.gov. Job listings and job search assistance can be found on www.employgeorgia.com.

For more information on jobs and current labor force data, visit the Georgia Labor Force Market Explorer at www.explorer.gdol.ga.gov to view a comprehensive report.