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Georgia Sets Records for Jobs in January and February

Georgia continues to set records when it comes to employment numbers. The State Labor Department released the numbers for January and February today. During that two-month cycle, Georgia posted gains in jobs, labor force, and employed residents. According to Commissioner Mark Butler, the state is in a strong position.

“We just have started the year so we don’t have a whole lot to go on but right now I’d say we’re in a good spot,” according to Butler. “Things that you’re worried about the most, are you adding people to your workforce, are you adding jobs-we’re seeing that. Would we like to see the employment numbers go up a little bit better? Yes, we would.”

Butler says Georgia does need more people entering into the work force.

“We need more actually individuals to come in off the sidelines, because right now we do have a lot of job openings. We actually need more individuals to be out there to fill these jobs that we’re currently seeing stay open.”

The job numbers were particularly strong in the areas ofconstruction, trade, transportation and utilities, as well as professional and business services, education and leisure and hospitality.

“We’re at an all-time high for the total number of jobs in the state of Georgia. It’s good to see the fact that we’re seeing these all-time highs hit across several different sectors, not just one or just a couple,” Butler said.

And according to Butler, those numbers are good news for the state overall.

“We’re seeing good growth across a lot of different sectors which gives us a good indicator that we’re having good, steady broad-based job growth.”

In both January and February, there were about 72,000 statewide listings in EmployGeorgia.com That’s up by about 1 percent.

Department of Labor
Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler

Georgia ended February with 4.6 million jobs.

The unemployment rate inched up in early 2019, driven by gains in the workforce. The rate climbed .1 percent in both January and February, settling at 3.9 percent. A year ago, the rate was 4.2 percent.

Nationally, the rate for February was 3.8 percent.

Georgia also posted record totals for jobs in:

*trade, transportation and utilities, 959,800,

*professional and business services, education, 710,400, and

* leisure and hospitality, 502,500.

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