General

Initial Unemployment Claims

Preliminary initial unemployment claims for the week ended October 23rd were 43,362, which is down just 1,530 claims, or -3%, from the revised initial unemployment claims number of 44,892 for the previous week, ending October 16th.

This is a slight change from last week. Overall, claims have been steadily declining since May 9th, but the decline appears to be slowing down over the past several weeks.

The highest weekly claims were filed the week ended April 4th, at 390,130. Just three weeks earlier, claims were at 5,447 for the week ended March 14th.

Insured Unemployment

Preliminary insured unemployment for the week ended October 16th was at 338,747. This is down 29,202 from the previous week’s revised insured unemployment number of 367,949 for the week ended October 9th, a 10% decrease.

Insured unemployment is also referred to as continued claims, which occur when an individual has already previously filed an initial claim, experienced another week of unemployment, and is now filing a continued claim to claim benefits for that week of unemployment.

By Industry

Most Improved Industries this Week

The industries in Georgia are said to improving when they see declines in initial unemployment claims since last week. The following are the most improved since last week:

• Retail Trade: 985 less new claims (a 23% decrease since last week).
• Accommodation and Food Services: 2,002 less new claims (an 18% decrease since last week).
• Health Care and Social Assistance: 773 less new claims (an 18% decrease since last week).

Most Declining Industries this Week

The industries with the largest increases in weekly initial unemployment claims are said to be declining.

• Manufacturing: 1,615 more new claims (a 53% increase since last week)
• Transportation and Warehousing: 592 more new claims (a 27% increase since last week)
• Information: 67 more new claims (a 14% increase since last week)