Georgia jobless rate up for fourth month

State's 8.1 percent is 2 percentage points above U.S. rate

photo Unemployment tile

Unemployment in Georgia rose for the fourth consecutive month during August even though the Peach State continued to show strong job growth.

The Georgia Department of Labor said today that the state's unemployment rate last month rose by four-tenths of a percentage point to 8.1 percent - the highest rate since last August.

Nationwide, the unemployment rate in August was only 6.1 percent.

"We had good job growth, both over the month with 24,700 new jobs and over the year with 79,300 more jobs, and initial claims, a leading economic indicator that measures new layoffs, decreased 27 percent," Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said. "All of this positive data makes the rate increase somewhat questionable."

Employment grew by six-tenths of a percent from July to August and Georgia added 2 percent more jobs over the past year, Butler said.

"With continued job growth and fewer layoffs, we would expect the rate to come down. We've talked with the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics, which conducts the monthly household survey that determines the national and state unemployment rates," Butler said.

A year ago, the initial August unemployment rate was later adjusted downward by a half percent "and we expect a similar reduction this year," Butler said.

Overall employment in Georgia topped 4.13 million, the most since June 2008.

The monthly gains came in government at 16,600 as seasonal school workers returned to their jobs after summer layoffs. Education and health services added 7,700 jobs, manufacturing recorded 4,000 new jobs, construction added 1,600 jobs, and other services added 1,500.

There were 31,122 new claims for unemployment insurance filed in August, a decrease of 11,536, from 42,658 in July.

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