State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said that 2017 was a banner year for job creation, employment and work force gains in metro Athens.

The four-county metropolitan statistical area, which includes Clarke, Madison, Oconee and Oglethorpe counties, ended the year with more than 5,000 new jobs, more employed residents and a work force increase. The Athens unemployment rate fell by 1 percent. Athens ranked third in Georgia for job creation among 14 MSAs tracked by the GDOL.

“This is a very good year for the Athens area,” Butler said. “All of the major indicators trended in the right direction. I’m expecting the same will continue in 2018.”

While metro Athens lost 900 jobs in December, the area ended the year with 99,000, a robust growth of 5.4 percent over the year. Most of the job growth came in the service industries such as leisure and hospitality, trade, transportation and warehousing, and state government.

While the number of employed residents declined by 604 in December, the metro area ended 2017 with 97,511 employed residents, a 12-month increase of 5,783.  

Metro Athens’ labor force, the number of residents with jobs and those unemployed but actively looking for work, declined by 744 in December. The area ended the year with 101,583 folks in the work force, up by 5,011 since last Jan. 1.

In December, 323 initial claims for unemployment insurance were filed, up by 19 percent from the previous month. Claims are down by 25 percent when compared to the same period a year earlier. Most of the decrease in claims came in construction and retail trade.

Meanwhile, the metro area’s unemployment rate fell from 5 percent to 4 percent over the 12-month cycle. The December rate, at 4 percent, was up from the previous month by .1 percent.