Athens added jobs in April, according to numbers from Labor Commissioner Mark Butler’s Office. Preliminary data shows both the unemployment rate and unemployment claims were down for Athens. April’s unemployment rate was 2.9 percent, down six-tenths appoint from the previous month.
Athens ended the month with 98,600 jobs, 100 more than March and 600 more than the same time last year.
However, Butler says the labor force decreased in April, something that he says is a concern statewide.
“I think right now we’re starting to see some of the effects of a lack of increase in the total number of individuals in our workforce,” according to Butler. “The big thing that stands out now is even though we saw a drop in a lot of these numbers, we’re not seeing an increase in layoffs. I think you’re kind of getting into a situation where we see the effect of not having enough individuals join the workforce to meet the demands of the job openings that we currently have.”
The workforce consists of people available for work, both those employed and those looking for jobs.
“Hopefully that’s going to change this next month as we see a lot of these college graduates and high school graduates hit the job market.”
The four-county Athens Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Clarke, Madison, Oconee and Oglethorpe counties.
Butler urges both those looking for jobs and employers needing to post jobs to visit the department job listing service EmployGeorgia.com.
2,197 active jobs listings were posted in Athens in April.
