Neither rising inflation nor the dangerous remnants of the omicron variant did much to slow economic growth in Georgia last month, as the state added 24,700 jobs, the Department of Labor said Thursday.
The expansion was the second-strongest February on record for Georgia.
After 22 consecutive months of job growth, the pool of unemployed people who are seeking work is at its lowest ebb in more than two decades, said Labor Commissioner Mark Butler.
“This state has continued to be successful in creating jobs and getting Georgians employed in these positions,” he said.
The state’s jobs site lists more than 230,000 job openings, he added.
Just 4,100 people filed first-time jobless claims last week, a level similar to pre-COVID times and far lower than earlier in the pandemic. In contrast, filings last March averaged 28,436 a week.
Low numbers are a sign that few companies are laying off workers. Many businesses say they are having trouble finding people to hire.
Some companies are attracting applicants by abandoning the idea of the 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday-to-Friday work week, said Monica Plaza, chief strategy officer for Wonolo, which connects frontline workers to hourly positions.
“Whoever can provide flexibility is going to win,” she said. “We are seeing much more willingness from hiring managers to rethink how the hours are filled.”
Wonolo’s placements in Atlanta have more than doubled in the past two years, while average pay is up more than 20% from pre-pandemic levels, Plaza said.
During the past twelve months, the state’s economy has added 232,000 jobs. That surpasses the pre-pandemic peak.
Georgia in February had about 58,000 more jobs than in the same month two years earlier, just before the pandemic took hold in the United States and triggered widespread closures and layoffs.
Since then, Georgia’s economy has been climbing out of a hole created by the loss of more than 610,000 jobs in the first two months of the pandemic.
Not all sectors are recovering at the same rate.
Positions requiring in-person contact took the hardest hit during the pandemic, and many of those businesses are still trying to build back to pre-virus levels.
The number of workers in accommodation and food services is still at least 10,000 shy of pre-pandemic levels, the department said. Yet that sector had some of the fastest hiring last month, adding 3,700 jobs.
Other strong job growth has come in corporate hiring, especially in tech, the department said.
Among the companies likely to contribute job growth in the next few months is Xebia, a tech consulting firm that this week announced plans to move its headquarters from the Netherlands to Atlanta. The company will hire more than 200 people in the city this year, according to Vipul Baijal, who heads Xebia’s North America region.
The state’s unemployment rate in February was a historically low 3.2%, unchanged from January, the department said. That’s a particularly good sign because nearly 19,000 people joined the labor force during the month.
The national unemployment rate is 3.8%.
Data for the February report was collected before the increase in gas prices that began later in the month. The spike has potentially chilled spending and hiring, but any evidence of that likely would not appear until next month’s report.
Spurred by the Russian war against Ukraine, the average price of a gallon of regular in Georgia rose from $3.32 on Feb. 21 to $4.29 on March 11, according to GasBuddy, which collects driver information to track prices nationwide. But the average has slowly dropped since, dipping to $4.05 by Thursday morning and further declines are expected, according to Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy.
February job growth
Best: 33,000 (2011)
Worst: -28,600 (2009)
Latest: 24,700 (2022
Georgians unemployed and seeking jobs
February 2020: 187,326
April 2020: 605,847
February 2021: 238,118
February 2022: 166,231
Sources: Georgia Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics
OTHER DEVELOPMENTS
National jobless claims
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits last week fell to its lowest level since 1969 as the U.S. job market continues to show strength in the midst of rising costs and an ongoing virus pandemic.
Stocks
Stocks rebounded from Wednesday’s losses as the falling jobless claims added to confidence in the economic recovery. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 349 points on Thursday.
Business activity
U.S. business activity advanced to an eight-month high in early March as fewer COVID-19 restrictions and less severe supply chain disruptions supported demand and production.
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