Metropolitan Hinesville’s unemployment rate for February was 6.8 percent, down 0.2 percentage point from
7 percent in January, the Georgia Department of Labor announced in a news release Thursday.
The Hinesville-Fort Stewart Metropolitan Statistical Area’s unemployment rate in February 2014 was 8.1 percent. The area takes in Liberty and Long counties.
The rate declined as employers created more jobs and laid off fewer workers.
The number of jobs in the metro area increased by 300, or 1.5 percent, to 20,100, from 19,800 in January. Most of the job gain came in the service-related industries and state government.
And there was an over-the-year gain of 800 jobs, or
4.2 percent, from 19,300 in February 2014. Most of the job gain came in the goods-producing sector, which includes manufacturing and construction, along with federal and state government.
There were 62, or
32.8 percent, fewer new claims for unemployment insurance filed in February, as the number decreased to
127 from 189 in January. Most of the decrease in claims came in administrative and support services, retail trade, transportation and warehousing, health care and social assistance, and accommodations and food services. Over the year, claims were down by 11, or 8 percent, from 138 filed in February 2014.
Metro Gainesville had the state’s lowest area jobless rate at 5.1 percent, while the Heart of Georgia-Altamaha region had the highest at
8.1 percent.
Meanwhile, Georgia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for February was 6.3 percent, down from
6.4 percent in January. It was 7.3 percent in February 2014.