Columbus adds jobs in August

Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said Thursday that Columbus added more jobs in August.

According to preliminary data, Columbus saw fewer initial unemployment claims filed, along with a decrease in the unemployment rate across the five-county metropolitan statistical area (MSA).

“It’s good to see so many of our communities doing well,” Butler said. “We continue to add jobs at a record rate and see claims for unemployment fall. Overall, August was a strong month across the state.”

In Columbus, the unemployment rate decreased 0.1 percentage points in August, reaching 4.3 percent. A year ago, the rate was 4.8 percent.

Columbus ended August with 122,400 jobs. That’s an increase of 700 jobs over the month and a decrease of 400 jobs when compared to the same time a year ago.

The labor force decreased in August by 555. The total was 123,161. That number has gone down by 615 when compared to August of 2018.

Columbus ended August with 117,905 employed residents.  That number decreased by 420 over the month but increased by 50 when compared to the same time a year ago.

The number of unemployment claims went down by about 24 percent in August. When compared to last August, claims were down by about 6 percent.

The five-county MSA includes the Georgia counties of Chattahoochee, Harris, Marion and Muscogee and Russell in Alabama.

Employ Georgia, the GDOL’s online job listing service at employgeorgia.com showed about 3,164 active job postings in metro Columbus for August.