With worries about interest rates and trade wars so far nibbling only at the edges of growth, the Georgia economy continued to add jobs in November as state unemployment hit the lowest rate since 2001.
The state added 4,500 jobs during the month as the unemployment rate edged down from 3.6 percent in October to 3.5 percent in November, according to a report Thursday from the Georgia Department of Labor.
With the state in its ninth consecutive year of job expansion, Mark Butler, the state's labor commissioner, touted the growth as a continuation in that long, positive trajectory.
Georgia has added 99,000 jobs in the past 12 months, he said. “As we approach the end of 2018, it’s great to see so much progress.”
Hiring this year has thus far been stronger than either of the previous two years with growth in a range of sectors across the income spectrum, Butler said:
— Logistics and retail, a lower-paying sector: 28,000 jobs.
— Construction, typically solid, blue-collar work: 18,200 jobs.
— Corporate and business services, typically higher paying: 19,800 jobs.
For months worries have mounted that the long expansion might be reaching its end and the recent volatility in the stock market seems to underscore that fear. A range of factors are blamed for the Dow Jones roller-coaster, but every time stocks drop sharply, analysts wonder if the market is forecasting a recession in coming months.
And Georgia's vulnerability to a downturn seems clear.
With so much of the state's economy dependent on trade, any cutbacks in global business are a concern. Moreover, the Federal Reserve's hikes in interest rates has made borrowing money more expensive for both consumers and companies.
On the consumer side, home sales depend partly on mortgage rates. For business, expansion and hiring generally depend on the ability to borrow.
In recent months, home sales have indeed been falling. And last month, the number of new jobless claims – a result of layoffs – in Georgia rose 9 percent from October to a level 21 percent above a year ago.
Moreover, the dip in the unemployment rate was partly because the number of people in the labor force fell – when workers are not actively searching for a job, they are not counted as officially unemployed.
But the labor force has grown during the past year and November was the 13th of the past 14 months with job growth, so Butler discounted the cautionary numbers as potentially misleading.
"There are a number of factors, some seasonal, that make the numbers fluctuate month to month," Butler said. "It's more important to watch the trends for the long term to understand what's really going on. And, the long-term trends look positive for Georgia."
Georgia job growth in November
2008: -25,200
2009: -4,700
2010: 1,500
2011: 6,500
2012: 8,500
2013: 2,600
2014: 15,700
2015: 3,700
2016: 13,400
2017: 0
2018: 4,500
Source: Georgia Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics
Job growth, January-November
2008: -118,300
2009: -180,100
2010: 28,300
2011: 38,400
2012: 62,400
2013: 80,400
2014: 124,900
2015: 97,700
2016: 92,700
2017: 60,300
2018: 93,100
Source: Georgia Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics
Georgia unemployment rate, November
High: 10.6 percent (2010)
Low: 3.4 percent (2000)
November: 3.5 percent (2018)
Source: Georgia Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics
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