ATLANTA – Georgia’s unemployment rate rose slightly last month but still remains lower than the national jobless rate, the state Department of Labor reported Thursday.
Georgia unemployment for November stood at 3.7%, up from 3.6% in October and half a percentage point below the national rate.
“Despite a slight uptick in unemployment this November, Georgia’s economy remains among the strongest in the nation,” said Louis DeBroux, serving as emergency interim successor to the late state Commissioner of Labor Bruce Thompson, who died last month.
“We’ve added 85,000 workers to the labor force and created nearly 46,000 new job opportunities over the past 12 months, bringing us closer to the milestone of five million jobs,” DeBroux added. “With unemployment still well below the national average, Georgia further establishes itself as the premier state for businesses to thrive and families of hardworking Georgians to prosper.”
While the year-over-year numbers were positive, several month-over-month statistics showed declines.
Jobs were down by 2,000 in November to 4.98 million. The labor forced declined by 3,000 to about 5.4 million, the first decrease since November of last year.
The number of employed Georgians fell by 5,217 to 5.2 million, while the number of unemployed rose by 2,217 to 198,405, the highest since July 2021.
On the bright side, the number of initial jobless claims filed in November declined by 9,323 to 19,319.
Some job sectors showed gains last month despite the overall decline. The health-care and social assistance sector gained 2,300 jobs, while arts and entertainment jobs increased by 2,000 jobs.
The accommodation and food services sector showed the largest drop in November, with 3,000 jobs lost, while the administrative and support services sector fell by 2,600 jobs.