Heart of Georgia’s Labor Force Increases in July

Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said Thursday that Heart of Georgia’s labor force increased in July.

Additionally, Heart of Georgia saw a monthly decrease in initial claims for July.

“As the state continues to reopen, we are going to see wild fluctuations up and down of the unemployment rate across the state,” said Commissioner of Labor Mark Butler.  “The numbers that we really need to focus on are the most important ones, such as increases in workforce and employment which we are continuing to see in almost all regions and counties.”

In Heart of Georgia, the unemployment rate increased in July to 6.8 percent, an increase of 0.6 percentage points. A year ago, the rate was 6 percent.

The labor force increased in July by 45. The July total was 112,252. That number is down by 3,840 from the total from July 2019.

Heart of Georgia ended July with 104,571 employed residents.  The number decreased by 651 in July and was down 4,548 as compared to last year.

Initial claims for unemployment decreased by 14 percent in July. When compared to last July, claims were up by about 464 percent.

Employ Georgia, the GDOL’s online job listing service at employgeorgia.com showed 1,238 active job postings in Heart of Georgia for July.

The Heart of Georgia region includes Appling, Bleckley, Candler, Dodge, Emanuel, Evans, Jeff Davis, Johnson, Laurens, Montgomery, Tattnall, Telfair, Toombs, Treutlen, Wayne, Wheeler, and Wilcox counties.