Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL) officials announced this week that Georgia’s unemployment rate dropped three-tenths of a percentage point to 3.2 percent in September.
GDOL officials said in an emailed press release that this is an all-time low for Georgia, dipping below the rate of 3.3 percent in January 2020. The number of employed people rose above 5 million for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, while the number of unemployed was reported at 161,786, the lowest level since June 2001.
“Although the number of employed rose by 7,722 in September, the labor force dropped over 6,000 over the month with the number of unemployed Georgians dropping almost 14,000,” according to the press release.
“The labor force is down 37,000 since the beginning of the pandemic.”
TDOL Commissioner Mark Butler said in the press release that Employ Georgia currently has 193,739 jobs posted, resulting in a minimum of 308,106 unfilled positions.
“This is almost twice the number of available jobs than we have people currently looking for employment,” Butler said in the press release.
“This is the main factor affecting job growth as employers across the state continue to struggle to fill vacant positions.”
Employers with more than 1,000 job postings include:
• Amazon with 3,500
• Piedmont HealthCare with 3,000
• Advantage Sales and Marketing with 2,600
• Wellstar Health System with 2,200
• Beech Valley Solutions with 1,700
• Home Depot with 1,500
• Walmart with 1,500,
• Anthem Blue Cross with 1,300 positions.
“Market salaries range from $23,000 to $102,000 with an average salary of $42,000. Jobs were up 14,300 (1.3 percent) over the month, and up 194,400 (4.4 percent) over the year to 4,578,200. Since April 2020, 521,000 jobs (86 percent) of the 609,500 jobs lost in March 2020 and April 2020 have been gained back,” the press release said.
“The sectors with the most over-the-month job gains included Retail Trade, 5,900, Wholesale Trade, 2,100, Transportation and Warehousing, 1,800, Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services, 1,600, Accommodation and Food Services, 1,100, and Specialty Trade Contractors, 1,100. Reaching all-time highs in their sectors, there were 254,500 jobs reported in the Transportation and Warehousing sector, 749,800 jobs in Professional and Business Services, and 296,800 jobs in the Professional, Scientific & Technical sector.”
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
