State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said today that February was another record-setting month for Georgia, as the state reached new highs for jobs, employed residents and labor force.

At the same time, unemployment claims fell and the unemployment rate remained unchanged.

The strong start to 2018 matched the prediction Butler made at the end of 2017 when Georgia ended another year of strong growth.

“It’s good to see we picked up this year right where we left off,” Butler said. “I expect Georgia will have a very good 2018. And, it’s important that we have gotten off to a good start.”

Georgia posted 4.51 million jobs in February, an increase of 18,300 over the month. That number is more than 88,000 higher than what Georgia had last February.

The most significant gains were made in construction, professional services and hospitality.

“It’s important that Georgia is adding jobs,” Butler noted, “but it’s more important that people continue to get them. And, we continue to see both happening.”

In February, the number of employed residents climbed by 15,619 to 4.89 million. Georgia had 125,449 fewer employed residents 12 months ago.

At the same time, the state’s labor force, which includes the total number of Georgians with jobs and those unemployed but looking for work, rose to 5.12 million, up by 15,674 in February. The labor force is up by 94,061 since February 2017.

“This is a very strong report,” Butler said. “You can see real results from all the effort we’ve made to make Georgia a great place to live, work and have a business.”

Meanwhile, the February unemployment rate stayed constant at 4.5 percent. A year ago, the state’s unemployment rate was 5.2 percent. The national rate stayed at 4.1 percent in February.

Monthly unemployment claims were 22,253, a drop of 54 percent from January. Claims are down by 8.5 percent over the year.

Employ Georgia, the GDOL's online job listing service at employgeorgia.com showed 52,429 new active job postings in Georgia for February.

Visit dol.georgia.gov to learn more about career opportunities, Employ Georgia and other GDOL services for job seekers and employers and to connect with us on social media.