Georgia breaks records in employment for November

Georgia continues to break records in employment. And in November, the State’s unemployment rate hit a historic low.

According to State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler, the state not only saw a historic low in unemployment, but also set records for employment, jobs, and work force.

Butler says the series of records in November add up to one of the best months in state history.

Nationally, the unemployment rate fell in November to 3.5 percent, a decrease of 0.1 percentage points. The nation also grew its labor force by 40,000, increased employment by 83,000 and added more than 266,000 jobs.

Georgia’s unemployment rate, meanwhile, fell in November by 0.1 percentage points to 3.3 percent. That rate is the lowest since the federal government began keeping records in 1976.

With the record rate, Georgia’s number of unemployed residents fell to the lowest total in more than 18 years – a time when Georgia had about 1 million fewer people in its labor force.

Butler noted that Georgia added 6,500 jobs in November, pushing the total to 4.64 million jobs – another new record for the state. He adds that this number is up 69,000 from the same time last year.

Several job sectors experienced substantial growth including trade, transportation, and utilities, education and health services, and construction.

With all that job growth, Georgia also set records for the most jobs ever in leisure and hospitality, education and health, and financial activities.

In November, the number of employed residents climbed by 11,175 and pushed Georgia’s total employment to 4.96 million—another new record for Georgia.

The state’s work force surpassed 5.1 million, with 5,980 new members added during the month, which Butler says makes the state’s work force the largest ever.

For additional information regarding Georgia’s employment visit dol.georgia.gov.