Georgia Employment Overview
According to the Georgia Department of Labor, Georgia's unemployment rate was 10.3% at the end of January 2010. The national average is 10.0% and Georgia's unemployment rate has been higher than the national average for two years now.
With 159 counties, Georgia is second only to Texas (254 counties). Previously, the Georgia Department of Labor grouped the state into sixteen regions but with the release of the July 2009 data GA DOL has combined eight regions into four, reducing the total number of regions to twelve.
Welcoming the lowest July 2009 unemployment rate, at 9.7%, is Middle Georgia which includes Baldwin, Bibb, Crawford, Houston, Jones, Monroe, Pulaski, Peach, Putnam, Twiggs and Wilkinson counties. The Middle Georgia region replaced the Coastal Georgia region as lowest unemployment rate when the Coastal Georgia region saw its rate jump from 8.9% in June to 9.8% in July.
The Atlanta area, at 10.4%, is slightly above the state average but saw no increase in the unemployment rate in July. In fact, three regions saw no increase in their unemployment rate and one region, Georgia Mountains, saw a one-tenth decrease to 9.8%.
Hardest hit, however, is the new Three Rivers region (13.2%) which includes the former McIntosh Trail region (14.9% in June) and Chattahooche-Flint region (12.5% in June). The other three new regions are Northwest Georgia (formerly Coosa Valley and North Georgia), Southern Georgia (formerly South Georgia and Southeast Georgia) and River Valley (formerly Lower Chattahoochee and Middle Flint).
Perhaps then it is a good sign to see both regional and state-level unemployment rates slow their decline and even stabilize in a few cases. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on August 3 that Georgia's manufacturing sector was beginning to show signs of life. And federal stimulus money is beginning to fund new hiring for local and state government offices.
Elsewhere there are more specific signs of growth. First Data plans to create up to 1,000 new jobs in Atlanta over the next three years as they relocate their headquarters from Denver. Verizon Wireless will open a new customer service center in Alpharetta, GA, NCR plans to move more than 2,000 jobs to Duluth and Columbus and a prison expansion in southwest Georgia could add 300 new jobs in that region.
Georgia employment opportunities seem to be growing as well. Job engine powerhouse, SimplyHired.com, showed almost 75,000 job listings in Georgia as of August 27, 2009, up six thousand from August 2. "It will take more time to find a new job and employers can afford to be picky", said GeorgiaCityJobs.com Owner, Stephen Beam. "However, there are still good employment opportunities across Georgia particularly in information technology, healthcare and education."
Looking for your best chances today and when the economy rebounds? Forbes lists the top ten hardest to fill jobs in America here.
For ideas on how to plan your next career move, craft your resume, and plan for the next interview, GeorgiaCityJobs.com offers a handy job article directory.