Athens unemployment rate was 4.5 percent in April, which is unchanged from March. The Georgia Department of Labor released the numbers today.
"In Athens we saw the numbers remain steady, going from from March to April," according to Labor Commissioner Mark Butler.
He says while the rate was unchanged, the numbers actually improved for Athens.
"When you take a look at all the numbers behind the unemployment rate, even though it did not move in the month of April, we did see more individuals actually become employed during the month of April. We also the Athens area gain about 600 jobs and not only that, but we saw fewer layoffs as that number decreased by a little over 26%."
Butler says over-the-year, a total of 1,500 jobs were added, a 1.6 percent growth rate, up from April 2016. The job growth came in several areas, including: state government, retail trade, leisure and hospitality, and professional and business services.
In April of 2016, the rate was 4.7 percent for Athens.
Metro Gainesville had the lowest area jobless rate at 3.9 percent, while the Heart of Georgia and River Valley regions had the highest at 5.9 percent.
Job seekers and employers are encouraged to use GDOL’s online job listing service employgeorgia.com to search for jobs or recruit new employees. In April, 1,330 new job openings in Athens were posted on Employ Georgia. Throughout the state, 75,183 new job openings were posted.