Georgia jobless rate hits highest level in 6 months
Georgia’s unemployment rate hit its highest level in six months, rising to 10.2 percent in August from 10.1 percent in July, the state labor department said Thursday.
There has been no improvement from a year ago, when the state’s jobless rate was also 10.2 percent.
August marked the 49th consecutive month Georgia has exceeded the national unemployment rate, which is currently 9.1 percent, the labor department said.
The August unemployment rate increased because 5,500 new job seekers — as well as more of those already unemployed — were unable to find work.
The number of long-term unemployed — those jobless for at least 27 weeks — increased by 3,000 to 254,100. There were 15.5 percent more long-term unemployed than in August of last year. The long-term unemployed account for 52.7 percent of Georgia’s 482,321 jobless workers.
On the positive side, the number of jobs in Georgia increased 0.2 percent to 3,801,000 in August, the labor department said. Most of the gain came from seasonal workers in the public school systems who returned to work after being laid-off for the summer. Also, some job increases occurred in professional and business services, education, health care and construction.
While Georgia had a net increase in jobs, there was a decrease in jobs in the leisure and hospitality industry, especially in accommodations and food services, as well as in wholesale and retail trade, the labor department said.
First-time claims for unemployment insurance benefits in August decreased 8.3 percent from July to 56,476. Most of the first-time claims were filed in manufacturing, administrative and support services, trade, and construction. There was a 19.6 percent decline in initial claims from August of last year.
– Henry Unger, The Biz Beat
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97 comments Add your comment
John
September 15th, 2011
10:21 am
Elliot Garcia
What have Republicans done to create jobs? Where is their plan? Not a single jobs bill been brought up in the House since the Republicans took control even though they ran on a jobs platform.
Red
September 15th, 2011
10:21 am
SoldierMike – clearly you have no grasp of economics. A President and his policies has a great deal of impact on the ills right now. Obama himself will say this. What do you think he ran on? To fix these ills. The ills of healthcare? What do you think his plan was? What do you think his pre-football speech was?
Sorry Mike. But if I know government policies were going to jack up my costs and potentially run me out of business, I am going to protect myself. If people are not buying my products because of a bad economy, why in my right mind would I hire someone? I’m not the government. I don’t hire people just to float them.
Judging by the comments of people like this, I’d say two things: 1)either people are just that flat out ignorant on economics or 2)people are buying into this entitlement Marxist nonsense that no matter what, someone owes them a job and money.
Mike, if you think these policies should not deter people from hiring, go start your own business right now and start hiring people. Go create a company. Go rent some office space. Go buy some means of producing products. Go hire 10 people. Get health insurance for them. Start cutting paychecks. Be inspired by Obama’s words. Stand up and do something! Help your President and your country out.
Just an idea
September 15th, 2011
10:26 am
Just an idea…. Let’s let the unemployed mow lawns for the state & county gov’t. Oh, wait, we cant – because it’s a union job requiring union salary and the fact they can’t get the job done doesn’t matter.
Steve
September 15th, 2011
10:26 am
The elephant in the room is the fact that this entire state government is Republican and uber conservative, yet we are still doing poorly as a STATE. Yes, the STATE OF GEORGIA. Yet, you blame Obama for not fixing 8 years of GOP led de-regulation, wars, tax cuts, and other financial disasters.
New hope And Change Needed
September 15th, 2011
10:26 am
Soldier Mike….you are right…one man does not make it all bad, but this one man has forced a lot of spending down our throats that hasn’t helped.
Employers WILL not hire until they feel comfortable and with the current spending and potential tax increase and healthcare crap they are trying to hold onto cahs for a potential crap storm.
New hope And Change Needed
September 15th, 2011
10:27 am
John – repubs are trying to create jobs by getting govt out of the way…tooo many regulations…too many stipulations and too much green crap.
Red
September 15th, 2011
10:36 am
Speaking of green crap, will we the tax payers get the half a billion back from Solyndra?
GuardDog
September 15th, 2011
10:38 am
People – please keep in mind all comments with Obama or any variation of will be reported to AttackWatch.com. You may now return to your regularly scheduled programming. – Big Brother
No jobs
September 15th, 2011
10:44 am
I thought obama’s economists said the recession was over in 2010—-the economy’s getting worse than ever. What gives? there are no jobs anywhere, even crummy mall jobs working with rif raf.
The Fixer
September 15th, 2011
10:54 am
I love the logic of nationwide UE is going down or flatlining while Georgia’s is going up therefore it’s the Republicans’ fault. Difference is nationwide, people are giving up left and right. Here in GA they are hanging on as long as possible and people from other states are coming here looking for work. Another round is about to begin nationwide. The numbers will go up. Gas is not getting cheaper and inflation is going up. Foreclosures increased in August. Polls show that UE is now the leading issue.
Obama is on his way out. NY09 and NV02 were signs of things to come. NY09 shows Obama losing one element of his base – Jewish voters. NV02 shows he’s losing moderate Dems, Indies, and the middle class hoping on economic rebound.
John
September 15th, 2011
11:05 am
New hope And Change Needed
Do you understand what created this recession? It was lack of regulation. It started with the housing market…creative financing, etc. Then it moved to the financial industry’s derivative market. For close to 100 years, this legal form of gambling was illegal due to events almost 100 years ago. During the Clinton administration, under a Republican led house and Senate, the industry was deregulated and once again this form of gambling was made legal…with no oversight. Unlike credit card companies and other sectors of the financial market where regulations require cash set aside to protect the companies from defaults, etc., the derivative market was not regulated. People and companies, with not financial interest, took insurance out on just about anything including the housing market with cheap premiums that would pay off big in the event of default. Since it isn’t regulated, no one knew how big the derivative industry was and those selling this cheap insurance didn’t have to have cash set aside for possible payouts. When the housing market collapsed, those holding the derivatives started collecting and the finance companies didn’t have the money to pay out which caused the collapse of the financial market. This entire recession was caused by the financial markets and lack of regulations to protect the economy.
RGB
September 15th, 2011
11:08 am
Obama was elected purely on his ability to give a speech. That’s it. (Oh–I almost forgot–he’s black too, and that’s enough for some folks to vote for him.)
Some people believe a good speech solves all problems. It doesn’t.
To date, no member of Congress has introduced Obama’s so-called jobs bill. One can’t vote on a bill that does not exist in either house of Congress, so Barack’s bellicose “you must pass this bill” rhetoric means absolutely nothing.
Some of you will vote for Obama in 2012 because you still believe….a good speech solves all problems.
John
September 15th, 2011
11:11 am
RGB
Republicans ran on a jobs platform and gained control of the House back in January. That was 9 months ago and John Boner has not brought up a single jobs bill yet. Where is their jobs bill?
A.S.Mathew
September 15th, 2011
11:17 am
There is no meaning and end to this problem by blaming each other. Now
from China, we can find even apple juice and plenty of fish imported for the
American consumber. All the 99 cents stores and discount stores as well as high end stores are exclusive open market for Chinees goods. How long, we can remain as a consuming country of goods produced in foreign countries? There must be a national movement to reduce the consumption of foreign-made goods, because our survival is in serious jeopardy. The college and high school graduates are not in the unemployment list, so the 10.2 unemployment is not realistic, it is
far far greater. American standard of living will be plummeting every day, and if we can look at the “made in” sign on every consumer item
in the U.S., and stop buying them for a year, then the American companies who have exported all the jobs to foreign countries will learn
a big lesson. Now the mega and small banks are learning the hard lesson
of total tricks and greed in ripping off the ordinary people. There is a time to sow and another season to reap, whether the actions are good or bad.
The Fixer
September 15th, 2011
11:25 am
John – check today’s news.
RGB
September 15th, 2011
11:27 am
John,
Republicans introduced a variety of measures to reduce the proposed increase in the size of government which most thinking people recognize as the major impediment to the creation of jobs. They passed a bill in the House, but Democrat Harry Reid wouldn’t allow a vote in the Senate.
Contrary to your expressed statements, it is over-regulation that kills jobs in addition to government overspending. When employers have to spend more on the increase in their health insurance costs than on business expansion, something is terribly wrong. The Obama administration introduced 308 regulatory actions and, only recently, agreed to back off on one. Obama’s administration has admitted that they do not perform a cost-benefit analysis of proposed regulations.
Republicans want to cancel ObamaCare, Dodd-Frank, and Sarbanes-Oxley. Steven Forbes wrote that over 700 prosecutions have been launched since 2002 to address corporate crimes. But not one conviction was a result of Sarbox. Plus, Sarbox failed to prevent the massive accounting scandal at Fannie Mae. In its first year of implementation, Sarbox cost companies $35 billion in compliance costs. a joint study by Brookings and AEI totalled the direct- and indirect costs of Sarbox to be $1 trillion.
So if Obama’s so-called “jobs bill” which costs $450 billion is good for the economy, wouldn’t not costing the economy $1 trillion be an even better thing?
There’s your jobs bill….
Please get over this blame Obama for everything
September 15th, 2011
11:30 am
Some of these comments are absolutely ignorant and truly shows how much more we need to grow as a country. Are we really going to blame President Obama for the foolishness that continues to go on in America?!!! And yes you can still blame Bush for some of this mess…it took him 8 YEARS to screw up the economy; however, we expect massive changes in the 3 years that President Obama has been in office. Really? Come on people…I hope some day we can honestly say that race will not play a part in any of our opinions.
Art Thomas
September 15th, 2011
11:32 am
An additional comment I would include from my 8:02am post is the following. During the last 20 years as our nation has been invaded by illegal aliens with no thought of assimilating into our American mainstream, we are now faced with a multi lingual society with distinct priorities for each group white , black and hispanic. There is no cohesion in attitude ,values or lifestyle as is evident if you visit any middle or high school in Georgia. Without a united population what business would care to cater to self centered population like this country has become? The strength of a country can be guaged by its people and when it is polarized like now in America , decline will continue.
Look to cohesive giants such as India and China to lead the way for the rest of the century in job creation and innovation.
For Real
September 15th, 2011
11:34 am
FACTS:
Georgia Governors 2003 – 2011
George E. Purdue
Nathan Deal
Were are the jobs?
Ken
September 15th, 2011
11:37 am
Before you local liberals try to find some way to put fault in Georgia and shield our inept President, think about it. Has Georgia’s unemployment rate really “exceeded the national unemployment rate”? Does anyone really believe the 9.1 % national rate claim? Consider that the “new claims” have exceeded expectation most months, and the mass layoffs, and Obama’s “Jobs Czar” at GE moving thousands of jobs to China – and you still accept those numbers. Remember it’s the administration’s Labor Dept. that gives you those numbers!
While some of you would defend this foolish choice for President if he came out onto the White House lawn tomorrow and started shooting babies (to reduce the number of future unemployed, you might rationalize), you must recognize that all he’s done for three years, while so many were suffering, was give speeches! And because he can read a dramatic speech, written by someone else, from his teleprompter and use inflection reminiscent of the great Martin Luther King, you feel you have to follow him to the end of the Earth!? Accept, for the sake of our nation and our families, that this choice was a misguided one, and that your beloved Democrat Party set you up by playing on your heart strings, or on any racial guilt that they could conjure up. A foolish choice is a foolish choice, no matter the reasons, and can only be corrected after admitting it – and not doing it again!
Red
September 15th, 2011
11:53 am
Please, it is a little hypocritical for you to say “blame Bush” but then not hold Obama to any accounting. Part of Bush’s tenure was with a Democratic Congress – a quite impressive one in numbers mind you. And a reminder that Obama was also in that Congress.
Remember Obama came in with the “genius” team of economic advisors. They walked in the door with the plan to ensure unemployment would not even go beyond 8%. This group was supposedly the smartest of the smart as far as economics were concerned – one I would disagree with. Their plan did stop the bleeding – temporarily. But what it did was create a greater problem – it pushed problems down the road and created huge debt that is now damaging our credit and ability for investors to act on anything. Capital is is being hoarded because of continued uncertainty and the prospects of more regulation and added healthcare costs.
Obama is now scraping for anything to stick. He is out of ideas. All he is left with is recycling bridge building and road paving along with bribing businesses to hire by giving them tax credits. As a business I examine what my projected costs will be (factoring in healthcare, inflation in materials and gas, etc.) and look at the prospects of revenue coming in (none due to the public just not buying). I currently have no incentive to hire anyone based on costs alone. These tax credits are nowhere near enough to offset these costs and a lack of revenue. So at the end of the day, I do not hire.
So what it comes down to is that the “genius” team (all three left by the way) failed and Obama is left with nothing. The sad thing is that even Democrats on the Hill are jumping ship on Obama’s plan. Some are saying it is not enough and others say it does nothing at all. With his own party walking out, his plan to use this as bait to attack the GOP is all but failed. This walkout alone will be one more nail in the coffin.
Unless some major event happens, each day he gets closer to the unemployment line himself. Perhaps speaking fees and book tours can produce enough tax revenue to bail us out.
John
September 15th, 2011
12:00 pm
RGB
“When employers have to spend more on the increase in their health insurance costs than on business expansion, something is terribly wrong. ”
Health insurance costs have been increasing for years…this is not a new phenomenon created by Obama Cares which Republicans like to blame it on.
As far as overspending…are you including the wars Bush took us into that were not paid for? What about Medicare Part D passed by Republicans and signed by Bush that was not paid for? Notice in last weeks Republican debate, not a single one called for it’s repeal.
The Republican solution is undue everything Obama did and we’d be great…Neither Obama nor his policies caused the recession. Remember he inherited it.
As far as Sorbox, do some research…there have been some convictions. From Politico, Aug 2007…
The Department of Justice has been keeping track of corporate fraud convictions following President Bush’s creation of a corporate fraud task force five years ago, in the wake of the Enron, WorldCom and other headline frauds.
The tally is impressive: 1,236 total corporate fraud convictions, including 214 chief executives and presidents, 53 chief financial officers, 23 corporate counsels, and 129 vice presidents.
And that may be a conservative count. Kate Plourd, the legal-affairs writer at CFO.com reviewed the numbers and concludes today that the actual count of convicted corporate finance chiefs is 63. She writes:
The government’s list excludes the names of some well-known former finance chiefs who wound up in jail, including Enron’s Andrew Fastow, WorldCom’s Scott Sullivan, Tyco International’s Mark Swartz, and Rite-Aid’s Frank Bergonzi. Fastow’s and Sullivan’s cases, for example, were handled by the fraud team of the U.S. Attorney’s office, which is why they were not included on the list, according to the DoJ. Likewise, Swartz was prosecuted by Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau.
Still, the Justice Department’s list reads like a trip down memory lane:
Jeff Skilling, Andrew Fastow and Co. at Enron; Bernie Ebbers at WorldCom; Rigas pére et fils at Adelphia; Joseph Nacchio at Qwest; Walter Forbes and Kirk Shelton at Cendant; and Conrad Black at Hollinger International, among others.
Charges against these and others have included wire fraud, accounting fraud, securities fraud, insider trading, stock option backdating, market manipulation, obstruction of justice, false statements, money laundering, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations, and conspiracy.
In addition to putting miscreants in jail, the task force said it had recovered more than one billion dollars in fraud-related forfeitures in its first five years. It has distributed that money to the victims of corporate fraud.
Elliot Garcia
September 15th, 2011
12:31 pm
For Real…..it is the democrats that are out of work in this state….the “people” who voted for Obama….
george
September 15th, 2011
1:06 pm
Joblessness will continue and worsen through the rest of this decade. The Republicans and their corporate buddies have no intention of adding jobs in the US. They are anti-labor and anti-worker. They are destroying the middle class and middle management. They are intent on creating a banana republic kind of nation with a wealthy class in power and control and a huge poor population who work at their will for any salary, no health benefits, no pension. That is why US business has been moving jobs overseas and may continue to do so where labor is cheap. It is capitalism at its worse, everyman for himself and to hell with everyone else.
Ken
September 15th, 2011
1:21 pm
George, you have exactly backwards! It is Obama that is destroying the middle class and putting the rest into the already over 50% of loyal dependents removed from the federal tax roles. And he’s not going after the rich, like himself (due only to two fictional delusional books that he might not have even written himself) by attacking “wages” of the “millionaires and billionaires”, as they don’t realize their wealth through wages, but dividends, share, non-monetary exchanges, royalties, foreign trusts (like the Ted Kennedy’s that want to attack individual success in America) etc.
And it is Obama that is defending the underclass of ILLEGAL immigrants that take American jobs and undermine the very wage scale and unions that I’m sure that you idolize. One sidebar on that issue, is that even the liberal saint FDR never intended public workers to unionize, because they have no competition and can get whatever their lobbyists and crooked politicians can get them! What if the military unionized and refused to defend us unless they got more and more compensation and job security that only governmental employees get, over the citizens, and taken from the citizens?
Democratic Plantation Dweller
September 15th, 2011
1:29 pm
Obama be doing a wonderful job!
Elliot Garcia
September 15th, 2011
1:34 pm
The House is set to vote today on the Boeing bill that will bring 1,100 jobs to Charleston, despite the Obama administration’s attempt to block the move to protect his union cronies!!!
Soapy Johnson
September 15th, 2011
1:36 pm
How bad is it? The Chinese now using fortune cookies to further discourage Americans in these tough economic times … http://placeitonluckydan.com/2011/07/recession-fortune-cookies/
Michael Marr
September 15th, 2011
1:41 pm
What Obama policies? The Republican House has blocked everything since January 2011. And if we lose businesses to Third World countries, and you are upset about that, I guess that means you want workers earning $2 per day in Atlanta and living in a lean-to. No thanks.
Michael Marr
September 15th, 2011
1:47 pm
If Obama is responsible for the Georgia jobless rate I guess that also means he is responsible for Rick Perry’s employment rates in Texas. Right?
Michael Marr
September 15th, 2011
1:50 pm
Evidently the greatest, capitalist country in the history of mankind was founded on January 19, 2009 and Obama has been dragging it into communism and utter decay since January 20, 2009. Sometimes ancient writings are found showing how something called “Democrats” also destroyed some other country named the “USA” prior to 2009.
Carl J.
September 15th, 2011
1:56 pm
To Michael Marr
September 15th, 2011
1:47 pm
So…who is responsible…Obama or Perry?
Road Scholar
September 15th, 2011
2:11 pm
I have asked this question before but no one responded: If the regulations on business and environmental damages are removed, does anyone support the death penalty for companies, particularly the CEO, COO, CFO, and board, if they do harm to the American people or economy? That is the only way to get businesses addressing their commitment to our society, that is w/o regs.
For those who say the unemployment rate in the US is over the 9.2% reported, does that mean the unemployment rate for Georgia is over 10.3% by a like %? Now, who has been in charge of Georgia for the past 9 years?
If we shrink government, where will all those unemployed people work? How do we replace their taxes paid?
Where is the Republican bill on immigration? Study the tax code Boehmer? I wouldn’t let you wash my car!
SoldierMike
September 15th, 2011
3:44 pm
@ Red September 15th, 2011 10:21 am
Wow, Red. I didn’t see your comment until just now. Trust me, I understand economics quite well. At least that’s what the degrees in my file cabinet at home suggests – especially the one that has “MBA” on it. Anway, all I will say without initiating a “I’m right, you’re wrong” kind of debate is that no matter who is in the White House, there is no magic bullet to fix what’s going on. If someone already has a great idea to fix everything right now, why wait until election time to share ideas that will help everybody? Why not? It’s because they are looking out for themselves and their own families and could give less than a hoot about yours. I get it. Do you?
SoldierMike
September 15th, 2011
3:50 pm
@ Red September 15th, 2011 10:21 am
BTW, I do respect your viewpoint. No intent here on ruffling feathers – just sharing a view point. Have a good one.
Elliot Garcia
September 15th, 2011
3:50 pm
I wish you would all stop apologizing for Obama and just admit that he is in over his head….Obama doesn’t want you to get a job….he wants the government to take care of you….
John
September 15th, 2011
4:26 pm
Elliot Garcia
Unlike Republicans who want us all to die if we get sick and don’t have health insurance. Wait, Ron Paul had the solution…Churches are going to pay all our medical bills.
Elliot Garcia
September 15th, 2011
4:43 pm
Nothing in life is free John, and the sooner that you can accept it the better off you will be….If Obamacare is so great, then why are there over 300 exemptions including most of Obama’s unions??
SDB Evening News Reads for 091511: Attack and Plead and Hope « Sky Dancing
September 15th, 2011
5:00 pm
[...] the Obama Administration..but they aren’t listening to any advice from the left anyway… Georgia jobless rate hits highest level in 6 months | The Biz Beat Georgia’s unemployment rate hit its highest level in six months, rising to 10.2 percent in August [...]
gm
September 15th, 2011
5:30 pm
Ok all you idiots on the right answer this question, Why is Mont,Mn, Ks, Co,Ok, and 15 other states unemployment averaging under 7% ?
Oh, I know why, Obama is not the President in those states: The day you stop voting for these self service sorry Rep in this hick state who only cares about UGA wining football games and maybe go out and bring Companies in this state justmay be we could be like the rest of the states, Oh I forgot Obama been President for the last 10 years.
Politics is local.....
September 15th, 2011
5:47 pm
@ gm…EXACTLY………yep, the hicks blame Obama for EVERYTHING and then go worship at the altar of Bulldog………what a waste of human flesh.
Rick in Grayson
September 15th, 2011
5:58 pm
The comments of Art Thomas, Buzz G., Homer, and Ken have covered everything I can think of.
4 more years!!!!
September 15th, 2011
9:09 pm
crooks like Perry or romney can’t beat obama. Obama needs more time to get his jobs program in place. The tea party has caused all these economic problems that obama is cleaning up! 4 more years is needed!!!!
Georgia’s unemployment rate up in August
September 15th, 2011
11:00 pm
[...] is at a six-month high: Georgia’s unemployment rate hit its highest level in six months, rising to 10.2 percent in [...]
Bob Walters
September 16th, 2011
12:04 am
The ways to reduce unemployment quickly in the US:
1. Deport ALL illegal aliens. Nearly 5% of the workforce is comprised of illegal immigrants. That knocks of 5% of the unemployment rate right there.
2. Repeal minimum wage laws. Let the market determine what wage someone will work for.
3. Repeal the National Labor Relations Act. End Federal protection of organized labor.
4. End unemployment compensation. It is a disincentive to work.
5. Impose an unemployment penalty tax. If someone if unemployed, not in school, not disabled or retired, and has a net wealth below $250,000.00, tax them. Just watch how fast the unemployment rate will go down.
6. Eliminate all corporate income taxes.
7. Turn the tax code on its head. Reduce tax rates as incomes grow. This provides an incentive to work harder. Wage earners making over $500,000.00/yr should pay NO taxes… notta!!
8. Eliminate public assistance programs. Any government assistance only fosters a culture of dependence. Encourage personal responsibility and self-respect.
Did I hear someone say it’s Herman Time! Tea Party 2012.
We need jobs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
September 16th, 2011
3:48 am
In many ways, I’ve been frustrated by Obama. He never seems to fight for what he says are his convictions. But, on his jobs proposal, he’s right and he is fighting for it.
We need a jobs program! Once people are back to work, they will start buying things again. Once they buy things, demand for goods and services will rise. Once demand increases, companies will hire more people to produce those goods and services. While this virtuous cycle is operating, tax revenues increase and our defecit disappears.
Georgia jobless rate hits highest level in 6 months | Leveraging Chaos
September 21st, 2011
8:08 am
[...] Georgia jobless rate hits highest level in 6 months. [...]