The job market in Athens continues to thrive according to the Georgia Department of Labor. Thursday Commissioner Mark Butler said Athens set a record for total jobs. In addition, he says, all indicators remain positive for the year.
“When we take a look at the numbers behind that rate, what we see is even though we did see some seasonal downturns in the numbers of individuals in the workforce and employed, we are still seeing the Athens area show almost 3,400 more people working today than we had this time last year,” according to Butler.
At the same time, Butler says, the four-county metropolitan statistical area, or MSA, saw its unemployment rate fall and the number of claims decrease.
“Well I think there’s really two things that stand out for the Athens area. First of all, it’s continuing to see initial claims for unemployment decrease over the month and over the year. And we’ve seen this for the last couple of years. But I think seeing the Athens area break another record for the total number of jobs, I think that’s one of the things that point to a very successful year for the Athens area.”
Athens 3.5 percent unemployment rate is second among all 14 MSAs in Georgia. It’s down from 4.7 percent one year ago.
The four-county MSA includes Clarke, Madison, Oconee and Oglethorpe counties. The department’s online job listing service, employgeorgia.com showed 1515 active job postings for August.
