New unemployment figures show Georgia’s recovery from the economic shock of the pandemic is slowing.

August saw the fewest number of new jobs added since the state’s labor market began bouncing back in May, with a large number of people dropping out the labor force. The slowing comes even as the state’s job market remains well short of where it was before COVID-19 caused many businesses to temporarily or permanently lay off workers.

The state’s unemployment rate fell in August fell to 5.6%. That’s down from 7.6% in July, but well above the 3.3% of August 2019. The number of unemployed Georgians fell by more than 100,000 to about 273,000. But the decrease in the number of jobless people and the jobless rate mainly stemmed from the labor force falling by nearly 90,000 people. Only an additional 20,000 people reported finding jobs.

The nationwide unemployment rate in August was 8.4%

Compiled Sources