General

Initial Unemployment Claims

Preliminary initial unemployment claims for the week ended September 4th were 50,072, which is down 1,211 claims, or 2%, from the revised initial unemployment claims number of 51,283 for the previous week, ending August 29th.

Initial unemployment claims have been continuing to decline since the week ended July 11th, when the state of Georgia saw 138,452 weekly claims. 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 August 29th was at 525,959. This is down 9,447 from the previous week’s revised insured unemployment number of 535,406 for the week ended August 22nd, a 1.8% drop.

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:

• Transportation and Warehousing: 1,020 less new claims, -39% from last week
• Real Estate and Rental and Leasing: 328 less new claims, -50% from last week
• Management of Companies and Enterprises: 59 less new claims, -21% from last week

Most Declining Industries this Week

The industries with the largest increases in weekly initial unemployment claims are said to be declining. The following are the most declined since last week:

• Accommodation and Food Services: 1122 more new claims, 9% increase since last week
• Retail Trade: 575 more new claims, 16% increase since last week
• Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation: 440 more new claims, 29% increase since last week

Generally speaking, the vast majority of industries are improving in terms of number of weekly initial unemployment claims.