State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said that even though the rate was up, March was a good month for Georgia’s labor market. Most found jobs, but not all were immediately hired. Considering population and labor force growth over the past 43 years, this is a remarkable statistic and that suggests that little slack remains in the labor market.
Advertisement
The Labor Department said the number of continuing unemployment claims, which are drawn by workers for more than a week, fell by 18,000 to 2,171,000 in the week ended April 2.
The total number of people collecting benefits has fallen almost 5 percent to 2.17 million.
Most of the added jobs came in construction, education and health services, information, government and the logistics sector known as trade, transportation and warehousing. The overall job gains were somewhat offset by losses in professional and business services and leisure and hospitality.
Years of strong employment growth have resulted in the lowest rate of layoffs since the Great Recession. “We continue to out pace the rest of the nation”. The unemployment rate among people eligible for benefits held at 1.6 percent.
There was an over-the-year increase of 130,000 jobs, from March 2015. The previous week’s level was revised down by 2,000 to 2,189,000. Claims for the prior week were revised slightly lower to 266,000. Most of the decline was due to a decrease in claims filed in manufacturing and construction, administrative and support services, and trade, transportation and warehousing.
Advertisement
The decline took claims back to their lowest level in 42 years that was reached in early March.
