Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said Thursday that Columbus’ unemployment rate decreased in May.  

Due to the effects of COVID-19, all MSA’s continue to see stinted yearly growth, yet monthly gains in nearly all major sectors are beginning to spike.  

“The fact that almost every single monthly indicator in May’s job market report was positive shows great promise to Georgia’s economy up ahead,” said Commissioner of Labor Mark Butler. “Seeing these monthly numbers begin to increase means that we are definitely heading back in the right direction.”   

In Columbus, the unemployment rate decreased 2.7 percentage points in May, reaching 9.5 percent. A year ago, the rate was 3.8 percent.  

Columbus ended May with 110,700 jobs. That number increased by 1,500 from April to May but was down by 12,800 when compared to this time last year. 

The labor force increased in May by 763 and ended the month with 116,282. That number is down 7,285 when compared to May of 2019.  

Columbus finished the month with 105,198 employed residents.  That number increased by 3,806 over the month but is down by 13,666 when compared to the same time a year ago. 

The number of unemployment claims went down by 34 percent in May to 16,507. When compared to last May, claims were up by about 2,756 percent.

Employ Georgia, the GDOL’s online job listing service at employgeorgia.com showed about 2,412 active job postings in metro Columbus for May.