Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said Columbus posted a strong February as all of its critical job measures trended in the right direction.  

Butler noted jobs, employed residents, and labor force all increased. At the same time, the unemployment rate held constant and unemployment claims dropped. 

“It’s good to see we picked up this year right where we left off from 2017,” Butler said. “I expect Georgia will have a very good 2018. And, it’s great to see so many of our local communities have gotten off to a good start.”

In February, the number of employed residents in the Columbus area, at 120,152, was up by 1,452 over the month and 2,879 for the year.

Jobs climbed by 500 to 121,100 in February. They increased by 800 over the past 12 months.

The Columbus labor force ended February at 126,926. That number is up 1,015 over the month and 1,577 over the past 12 months. The area’s labor force includes the total number of residents with jobs and those unemployed but looking for work.

At the same time, the jobless rate fell from 5.7 percent to 5.3 percent over the past month. A year ago, the jobless rate was 6.4 percent. Georgia’s 14 metropolitan statistical areas had unemployment rates that varied from a low of 3.6 percent in Columbus to Dalton’s 5.5 percent.

Initial claims for unemployment were down about 65 percent for the month and about 20 percent for the year.

Employ Georgia, the GDOL’s online job listing service at employgeorgia.com showed 1,673 new active job postings in metro Columbus for February.

The five-county metropolitan statistical area (MSA) includes the Georgia counties of Chattahoochee, Harris, Marion and Muscogee and Russell in Alabama.