Metro Savannah’s unemployment rate dropped three-tenths of a percentage point in February to 6.6 percent, the state labor department announced Thursday.
Savannah’s non-seasonally adjusted rate was down from 7.9 percent a year ago, owing to an increase in new jobs and decrease of about 54 percent in new layoffs.
About 1,600 new positions increased the total number of jobs to 161,500 this month, a 2.5 percent increase over the year. Job gains were made mostly in professional and business services and state and local government sectors.
Concurrently, the number of new layoffs, represented by initial claims for unemployment insurance, dropped a steep 20 percent over the year. There were 960 new claims for unemployment insurance benefits in February, about 1,119 fewer than the month prior.
In Chatham alone, 727 new claims were filed, a drop of 17.8 percent over the year. Savannah has gained about 2,125 people to its labor force in the last year for a total of 182,044, representing both employed individuals and those seeking employment.
Georgia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for February was 7.1 percent, down from 8.5 percent a year ago.
For more on Savannah’s latest economic trends, read Sunday’s Savannah Morning News for local analyst Michael Toma’s quarterly monitor.
BY THE NUMBERS
Year-over-year stats for Savannah MSA (Bryan, Chatham and Effingham):
Feb. 2014 Feb. 2013
Unemployment rate: 6.6 percent 7.9 percent
Total Jobs: 161,500 157,600
Unemployment Claims: 960 1,198
Source: Georgia Department of Labor