ATLANTA – The Georgia Department of Labor announced today that Georgia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate declined to 9.0 percent in September, down two-tenths of a percentage point from 9.2 percent in August. The jobless rate was 9.8 percent in September a year ago.
“The unemployment rate dropped in September because Georgia had the fewest new claims for unemployment insurance benefits in five years, since before the start of the Great Recession,” said Labor Commissioner Mark Butler.
The number of initial claims in September declined to 39,564, down by 6,161 from 45,725 in August—the fewest since 32,139 were filed in September 2007. Most of the decline came in administrative and support services, retail trade, health care and social assistance, educational services, and accommodations and food services.
While the state lost 400 jobs from August to September, it actually gained 61,800 jobs since the 3,877,600 in September of 2011, climbing to 3,939,400. The growth sectors were professional and business services, up 23,500; trade, transportation, and warehousing, up 23,100; education and health care, up 13,000; leisure and hospitality, up 9,100; manufacturing, up 8,700; and technology, up 1,100.