Unemployment tileUnemployment 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.