Georgia jobless rate drops to 7.2 percent

In the biggest monthly drop in the unemployment rate in 38 years, Georgia's jobless rate last month plunged by a half of a percent to 7.2 percent, the Georgia Department of Labor said today.

Georgia employers added 23,400 jobs in November to push the number of persons on the job in the Peach State to the highest level since since the end of 2007 before the Great Recession began.

“This is the largest monthly rate decrease we have seen in Georgia going all the way back to 1976,” Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said in a statement today. “Our rate continues to trend downward as our state’s employers create new jobs and lay off fewer workers. In fact, we had more jobs in November than we’ve had since the beginning of the Great Recession, and our November-to-November job growth was the largest in nine years.”

Butler said the state also revised the preliminary October jobless rate of 7.7 percent to a revised 7.6 percent. A year ago, the November rate also was 7.6 percent in Georgia.

Despite the improvements, Georgia's jobless rate last month was still well above the 5.8 percent national unemployment rate.

Most of the Georgia job growth last month came in trade, transportation and warehousing, which gained 16,000 jobs primarily because of holiday hiring. Other sectors showing job gains are local government, 5,100; leisure and hospitality and financial services, 1,600 each; manufacturing, 1,100; education and health services, 1,000; personal and laundry services, 1,000; and information services, 500.

Georgia has added 98,800 jobs since November of last year.

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