State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said that metro Albany ended 2017 with modest job growth, an increase in employment and work force, and a decline in unemployment.   

The five-county metropolitan statistical area, which includes Baker, Dougherty, Lee, Terrell and Worth counties, ended the year with 200 new jobs, 768 more employed residents and 122 more people in the workforce. The Albany unemployment rate fell by .9 percent. Metro Albany ranked last in Georgia for job creation among 14 MSAs tracked by the GDOL.

“This is a very good year for the Albany area,” Butler said. “All of the major indicators trended in the right direction. I’m expecting the same will continue in 2018.”

In December metro Albany added 200 new jobs to end the year with 63,600, a growth of 100 in 2017. Most of the job growth came in the service industries.

The metro area also added 246 more employed residents last month. At year’s end, metro Albany posted 64,543 employed residents, up by 768 from last Jan. 1.

Metro Albany’s labor force, the number of residents with jobs and those unemployed but actively looking for work, grew by 178 in December. Albany ended the year with 67,982, an increase of 122 during 2017.  

In December, workers filed 502 initial claims for unemployment insurance, down by 19 percent from the previous month. Claims are down by 6 percent when compared to the same month a year earlier.  Most of the decrease in claims came in administrative and support services.

Meanwhile, the metro area’s unemployment rate fell from 6 percent to 5.1 over the 12-month cycle. The December rate, at 5.1 percent, was down from the previous month by .1 percent.