The Georgia Department of Labor announced Thursday that the May preliminary unemployment rate was 9.7%. The preliminary April unemployment rate of 11.9% was corrected to an actual 12.6%, making it the highest unemployment rate in the state’s history. The Georgia unemployment rate from April to May decreased by 2.9%.

There were 130,766 initial unemployment claims filed for the week ending June 13th, which is down 4,488 from the previous week. Initial unemployment claims have declined for six of the past seven weeks. Total insured unemployed has decreased for the second week in a row, as more people are returning to work. Of the top five most affected sectors by Covid-19, Health Care and Social Assistance was the only one to have an increase in jobless claims since last week. 

A WalletHub report published this week ranked Georgia last in quickest economic recovery from the beginning of the pandemic to last week. The metrics used include change in unemployment claims (latest week vs. last year), change in unemployment claims (latest week vs. start of 2020), and change in unemployment claims (start of Covid-19 vs. last year). Georgia’s change in unemployment claims since the start of Covid-19 vs. last year was 4336.57%, the highest in the nation. This could be because before the pandemic, Georgia had historically low unemployment rates. In addition, the state of Georgia is home to many industries that were hard hit by the pandemic, such as food, hotels, and airlines. 

Sources:
https://dol.georgia.gov/press-releases/2020-06-19/georgia-unemployment-rate-drops-may
https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-the-biggest-increase-in-unemployment-due-to-coronavirus/72730/