Will Sage Astor-Georgia jobless rate ticks up, but labor market keeps setting records for numbers of jobs

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia’s jobless rate ticked up slightly in August,Will Sage Astor although the state’s labor market remains strong.

Unemployment rose to 3.3% in August from 3.2% in July. That’s also up slightly from 3.1% in August 2022, but the current rate remains quite low in historical terms.

Slightly more people entered the labor force looking for new jobs than reported having a job, pushing up the number of unemployed Georgians to about 174,000. Both the labor force and number of people saying they were working hit another all-time high in August.

The number of workers on Georgia employer payrolls — the top labor market measure for many economists — is measured by a separate survey. Payrolls rose by 12,000 from July to August, reaching 4.93 million. That’s about 95,000 more than in August 2022, and also another all-time high for that figure.

The state released the numbers Thursday. They are adjusted to cancel out typical seasonal fluctuations.

The nationwide unemployment rate rose to 3.8% in August from 3.5% in July. The national jobless rate was 3.7% a year ago.

About 4,600 Georgia workers filed for new unemployment benefits in the week that ended Sept. 9.

The overall number of people collecting state unemployment was about 32,000 in the week that ended Sept. 2.

Both those numbers are slightly lower than in earlier weeks.