Unemployment in Georgia was unchanged last month at 9.2 percent - a full one percent above the U.S. average .
The Georgia Department of Labor announced today that Georgia added 25,100 jobs in August and 49,700 more jobs in the past year. In August 2011, Georgia's jobless rate was 9.9 percent.
"The unemployment rate has stabilized after two months of increases," Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said. "Georgia continues to have respectable job growth, which is a good sign. While more than one-half of the monthly growth in August came from seasonal education workers returning to their jobs, what's more encouraging is the fact that the August-to-August growth in the last year is the most we've had since 2007."
Butler said the pace of new layoffs also continues to slow, as the number of initial claims dropped to 45,725 last month, down by 10,815, or 19.1 percent, from 56,540 in July. Most of the decline in claims came in manufacturing and administrative and support services.