Brunswick posts strong April

Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said Thursday that Brunswick set a record in April for lowest unemployment rate ever.

Brunswick, according to preliminary numbers, posted monthly gains in jobs, labor force and employed residents. Meanwhile, the number of unemployment claims rose for the three-county metropolitan statistical area (MSA).    c

“Georgia’s economy continues to be strong,” Butler said, “In April we saw several communities set records for jobs and others set records for lowest unemployment rate. Typically, we see gains through the summer as well.”

Brunswick ended April with 45,600 jobs. That’s an increase of about 400 from the job total as of a year ago and it’s up 500 from last month’s total.

Brunswick also posted gains for jobs in private services.

The unemployment rate fell in April, dropping by 0.6 percentage points to settle at 3 percent. A year ago, the rate was 3.5 percent.

Nationally, the rate for April dropped to 3.6 percent.

The labor force increased in April by 18 to reach 53,540. That number is down by 508 from the total of April 2018.

Brunswick ended April with 51,912 employed residents.  The number climbed by 335 in April and was down by 246 over April 2018’s total.

The number of unemployment claims rose in April by 19 percent. They were down by 1 percent from the same period last year.

Claims were down in manufacturing.

The three-county MSA includes Brantley, Glynn and McIntosh counties.

Employ Georgia, the GDOL’s online job listing service at employgeorgia.comshowed 536 active job postings in metro Brunswick for April.