Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said Northeast Georgia set a record in October for most employed residents.
The 12-county region also increased its labor force in October. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate increased across all 12 regions statewide.
Butler says key indicators were positive for the year for the Northeast Georgia region.
"The good news in the job report is the fact that we did see a very strong increase in the labor force due to a lot of job opening in the Northeast Georgia region, not only that but we’re seeing these job seekers being very successful.”
The labor force in Northeast Georgia climbed by 2,648 in October to reach 310,885. That number is up by 6,870 over the past year, an average monthly increase of about 570.
Butler says claims for unemployment insurance rose by 32 percent in October. They were up by two percent when compared to the same month a year ago.
“The jobs numbers are in for Northeast Georgia for the month of October and in that report we see the unemployment rate increase by four-tenths a point bringing the rate up to 3.4 %,” according to Butler. “When we take a look at those numbers behind the increase, we actually see some fairly good news.” Even though we actually go up over the month, most of those are going to be temporary in nature.”
Employ Georgia, the GDOL’s online job listing service at employgeorgia.com showed 2,666 active job postings in metro Northeast Georgia for October.
The Northeast Georgia region includes Barrow, Clarke, Jackson, Jasper, Madison, Oconee, and Oglethorpe.
