Georgia unemployment ticks upward during summer season

ATLANTA — The Georgia Department of Labor said that as the summer job market sees graduates come into the workforce, the unemployment rate is still ticking upward.

According to an announcement Thursday morning from Georgia Labor Commissioner Bruce Thompson, the June unemployment rate was 3.3%, a slight increase from May’s 3.2%.

“School’s out, and Georgia is thriving like never before,” Thompson said in a statement. “Our students infuse our workforce with new talent and energy each summer. While this may temporarily increase seasonal unemployment, the fresh skills and enthusiasm these young workers bring to the local economy are key to cultivating an economy that’s built to last.”

GDOL said jobs across the state were up 8,900 over the month and up by 64,200 over the year, hitting an all-time high of nearly 4.98 million.

Health Care and Social Assistance, Transportation and warehousing, State Government, Wholesale Trade and Retail Trade were the industries with the biggest growth as far as job gains, with Health Care and Social Assistance netting the most with 3,200 more jobs in June, GDOL reported.

Private Education and Health Services, as well as Leisure and Hospitality also had job numbers at all-time highs for the state in June.

However, there were noticeable decreases, in the tens of thousands in some cases, in Administrative and Support Services, the Motion Picture and Sound Recording Industries and Transportation and Warehousing all saw losses between 8,000 to nearly 15,000, according to GDOL’s June data.

Still, the labor force in Georgia was up by 15,502, reaching an all-time high of nearly 5.4 million workers according to the department.

Georgia unemployment claims also increased 9% in June, though on an annual basis they were still 7% lower than the previous year.