The Georgia Department of Labor reported small improvements in July employment numbers for the Gainesville metro area.
Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said in a Thursday-morning report that Gainesville’s unemployment rate decreased by one-tenth of a point, and the labor force and job creation also improved as the coronavirus pandemic continued to impact the economy.
"As the state continues to reopen, we are going to see wild fluctuations up and down of the unemployment rate across the state," said Butler. "The numbers that we really need to focus on are the most important ones, such as increases in workforce and employment which we are continuing to see in all MSAs."
Butler outlined the following information in the Gainesville metro area's July report:
- In Gainesville, the unemployment rate decreased 0.1 percentage point in July, reaching 5.6 percent. A year ago, the rate was 3.1 percent.
- Gainesville ended July with 89,600. jobs. That number increased by 300 from June to July but was down by 3,200 when compared to this time last year.
- The labor force increased in July by 1,458 and ended the month with 98,773. That number is down 3,358 when compared to July of 2019.
- Gainesville finished the month with 93,225 employed residents. That number increased by 1,494 over the month but is down by 5,716 when compared to the same time a year ago.
- The number of unemployment claims went down by 24 percent in July. When compared to last July, claims were up by about 2,250 percent.
- Employ Georgia, the GDOL’s online job listing service at employgeorgia.com showed about 1,638 active job postings in metro Gainesville for July.
The Georgia Mountains Region - which includes 13 North Georgia counties - posted an unemployment rate of 5.5 percent, down three-tenths of a point from June. The Georgia Mountains region encompasses Banks, Dawson, Forsyth, Franklin, Habersham, Hall, Hart, Lumpkin, Rabun, Stephens, Towns, Union and White counties.
