Georgia labor agency says initial unemployment claims surged in December; to host jobs summit

Ga. Dept. of Labor reports unemployment claim rise

ATLANTA — The Georgia Department of Labor reported Friday that more than 100,000 laid-off workers filed initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits in December, an increase of nearly 40 percent over the previous month.

Still, Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond said Friday that 28,000 fewer people filed such claims than in December 2008 — a decrease of about 20 percent. Nonetheless, he said the new numbers signal a long, difficult recovery ahead despite the progress that’s been made.

Thurmond said his department will host the Georgia Jobs Summit in Atlanta on Monday, with the aim of developing a strategy to spur private sector job creation and hiring.

“Obviously the holiday hiring season was somewhat of a disappointment here in Georgia,” Thurmond said. “Typically the unemployment rate declines as retailers ramp up their staff during the Christmas season, but obviously this did not occur in December.”

Most of the first-time claims were filed in manufacturing, trade, construction, and administrative and support services.

Thurmond has billed the summit as a brainstorming session for ways to combat the recession in Georgia. The conference is expected to draw economic insiders to discuss everything from the shifting demographics of Georgia’s unemployed to ways of tailoring existing training opportunities to help unemployed Georgians become more competitive in the job market.

Indeed, the economy in Georgia has been bleak.

One in 50 Georgia households declared bankruptcy in 2009 between January and November, giving the state the third-highest personal bankruptcy rate in the nation, according to recently released data from the National Bankruptcy Research Center.

Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released this month showed the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta metropolitan area lost 117,100 non-farm payroll jobs from November 2008 through November 2009, the fifth-highest rate in the nation. Meanwhile, Thurmond recently announced the state would have to access $70 million in federal loans to make payments to the more than 260,000 jobless Georgians now relying on unemployment insurance.

It’s likely the state will have to borrow more federal money to continue paying unemployment benefits, Thurmond said.

There was good news, however: There was a year-over-year decline in the number of initial unemployment claims filed, and at least one University of Georgia expert has forecast expanded Georgia jobs beginning in the spring.

“I’m not an economist,” Thurmond said, “but I hope that’s the case.”