New job count rises in Floyd County

The labor force in Rome and Floyd County grew by 1,100 jobs in March, to 47,800, vs. the same month last year. It also was a 200-jobs jump from February.

The job count was within 300 positions of the peak of 2023, the Christmas shopping season.

Statewide, records were set last month in overall employment.

The snapshot from the Georgia Department of Labor comes as area counties saw first-time jobless claims in March hold very close to February totals.

A county-by-county comparison shows:

♦ Floyd: 205 claims, down two from February and by 27 from March of last year.

♦ Bartow: 210 claims, down four from the previous month.

♦ Gordon: 211 claims, a drop from 246 a month earlier.

♦ Polk: 96 claims, two more than in February and 20 more than a year earlier.

♦ Chattooga: 41 claims, which is a drop of eight from February but a third of what was reported in March 2023. The state: Georgia’s March unemployment rate was 3.1%, unchanged from a revised 3.1% in February.

Jobs were up by 16,200 (0.3%) over the month and up by 55,400 (1.1%) over the year to 4,949,500, an all-time high.

♦ The labor force was up by 8,366 to 5,343,463, also a record, and was up by 63,465 over the past 12 months.

♦ The number of employed was up by 8,423 to 5,179,980, an all-time high, and was up by 68,264 over the past 12 months.

♦ The number of unemployed was down by 57 to 163,483, the lowest figure since July 2022 (162,614), and was down by 4,799 over the past 12 months.

♦ Initial claims were down by 5,041 (-22%) over the month to 17,847 in March. Initial claims were down by 4,259 (-19%) over the year.