Peach Tree Times

The state’s unemployment numbers continue to fall since the start of the pandemic last year, and state leaders are singing the economy's praises.

"The Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL) announced today that Georgia's unemployment rate dropped 0.3 percentage points to 3.2% in September, an all-time low for Georgia, dipping below the rate of 3.3% in January 2020," a Department of Labor press release states. "The number of employed individuals rose above 5 million since the first time since the beginning of the pandemic."

The state was also ranked as a top state for conducting business in 2021 by Area Development, contingent on studies that the organization conducted. The state ranks near the top 10 in all of their criteria.

This is the eighth straight year that the state achieved the top ranking for doing business with categories, including cost of doing business, state government cooperation and responsiveness and labor market competitiveness.

Commissioner Mark Butler said in the GDOL release that the state’s economy would continue to grow.

"This is excellent progress for Georgia, and it shows that the state's economy is rapidly recovering and GDOL's programs, along with other state policies, are working to get people back to work," Butler said. "Our teams are proactively reaching out to unemployed jobseekers around the state to offer support services with finding a job, along with staff doing specialized recruitments."