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Preliminary unemployment in White County was nearly half of what it was a year ago.
A Georgia Department of Labor preliminary report shows White County’s unemployment rate staying at 2% or less for a fifth straight month.
Preliminary unemployment for White County in November was 1.5%, nearly half of what it was in the same month a year ago at 2.9%. The rate is also down slightly from the 1.6% posted in October.
The November report shows the county’s civilian labor force of 16,779 is down from 16,913 in October, but that still remains at a level similar to early 2020 prior to the local impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Unemployment in White County was at 2.8% in March 2020 before pandemic-related job cuts led to a spike up to 11.4% the following month.
The county’s unemployment has remained under 3% since Feburary this year.
The 13-county Georgia Mountains Region had its unemployment rate dip from 1.8% in October to 1.7% in November. The rate was at 3.4% in November 2020.
The region includes White, Banks, Dawson, Forsyth, Franklin, Habersham, Hall, Hart, Lumpkin, Rabun, Stephens, Towns and Union counties.
Georgia’s unemployment rate dropped to another record low last month, while the state’s all-time high workforce is larger than it was before the coronavirus pandemic.
The state’s unemployment rate fell to 2.8% in November, well below the national jobless rate of 4.2%, the state labor department reported.
“We have fully recovered from this pandemic when it comes to employed Georgians,” Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said. “The hard work is still in front of us as job creation is outpacing new workers in the labor force.”
Jobs in Georgia were up 13,500 over the month and are up 4.4% over the year to more than 4.6 million. During the last six months, the number of jobs has increased by 130,600.
“We have regained almost all of the jobs we lost during the pandemic,” Butler said. “However, the number of job seekers is still below pre-pandemic numbers.
“Creating more jobs becomes very difficult if we can’t fill vacancies in the 300,000 jobs that are currently open. It’s a good problem to have and shows how strong Georgia’s recovery has been, especially compared to other states our size.”
Job sectors with the most over-the-month job gains included transportation and warehousing, which gained 4,300 jobs; non-durable goods manufacturing, which was up 2,300 jobs; and accommodation and food services, which gained 2,200 jobs in November after being decimated during the pandemic.
First-time unemployment claims declined last month by 10,116 to 17,194, a 37% decrease and the first time since November 2019 that initial claims fell below the 20,000 plateau.