The Georgia Department of Labor announced today that Georgia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for October was 7.7 percent, down two-tenths of a percentage point from 7.9 percent in September. The rate in October of last year was 7.8 percent.

“The rate fell as we had extremely strong job growth in October, which gave us the largest number of jobs in Georgia since May of 2008,” said State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler. “Our state’s private-sector employers get the credit because they created more than 91 percent of the new jobs in October and all of them since October of last year.”

There were 4,166,400 jobs in October, an increase of 33,800, or eight-tenths of a percentage point, from 4,132,600 in September. The increase is 31 percent more jobs than the average September-to-October growth for the last three years. The private sector created 30,800 of the new jobs, while state and local government education created the remainder. Job growth also came in trade, transportation and warehousing, 14,200; professional and business services, 7,900; education and health services, 4,900; construction, 1,200; leisure and hospitality, 1,100; information services, 1,000; and financial services, 500. 

“Georgia employers have added 96,000 jobs since October of last year,” said Butler. “We had significant over-the-year growth in almost every sector, which shows the overall strength in our job recovery. I’m especially encouraged that the number of construction jobs grew by nearly five percent to give us the most jobs in that industry in five years.”

The over-the-year job gains were in professional and business services, 32,200; trade, transportation and warehousing, 26,400; leisure and hospitality, 14,900; manufacturing and construction, 7,400 each; education and health services, 5,400; information services, 2,200; and financial services, 1,400. Government lost 600. 

In October, there were 32,899 new claims filed for unemployment insurance, an indicator of new layoffs, which rose by 2,700, or 8.9 percent, from 30,199 filed in September. Much of the increase was temporary claims filed in manufacturing and administrative services, including temporary employment agencies.   

However, over the year, initial claims were down by 18 percent. There were 7,233 fewer claims filed than the 40,132 in October 2013. Most of the decline over the year came in manufacturing, professional, scientific and technical services, support services, and trade, transportation and warehousing.