ATLANTA — The Georgia Department of Labor announced today that Georgia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for July was 7.8 percent, up four-tenths of a percentage point from 7.4 percent in June. The rate in July of last year was 8.3 percent.
“The July rate increase is primarily due to temporary seasonal layoffs in local government and manufacturing,” said State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler. “Most of those individuals have already gone back to work.”
There were 4,098,400 jobs in Georgia in July, which is 12,800 fewer than in June, with the bulk of the loss in local government educational services.
“The positive news is that Georgia’s private sector employers created 8,200 jobs in July, with the growth coming in several industries,” Butler continued. “And, the over-the-year growth continues to be strong, as we had 83,300 more jobs than in July of 2013. Georgia continues to be one of the leading states for job creation.”
The over-the-year gains were in professional and business services, 27,500; leisure and hospitality, 19,000; trade, transportation and warehousing, 18,500; manufacturing, 7,100; education and health services, 6,100; construction, 5,300; information services, 2,700; and financial services, 1,900. Government lost 3,800 jobs.
The labor force decreased for the first time this year, dropping by 4,824 to 4,777,591 from 4,782,415 in June.
There were 42,658 new claims for unemployment insurance filed in July, an increase of 4,741, or 12.5 percent, from 37,917 in June. Approximately one-third of the new claims were from temporary layoffs. Of the overall increase, 3,323 claims were in manufacturing.
However, over the year, initial claims were down by 21.2 percent. There were 11,448 fewer claims filed than the 54,106 in July 2013. Most of the decline over the year came in manufacturing, wholesale trade, administrative and support services, and construction.
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