Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said Thursday that Gainesville’s 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 Gainesville, the unemployment rate decreased 2.7 percentage points in May, reaching 8 percent. A year ago, the rate was 2.7 percent. 

Gainesville ended May with 85,800 jobs. That number increased by 400 from April to May but was down by 7,500 when compared to this time last year.

The labor force decreased in May by 215 and ended the month with 96,628. That number is down 4,741 when compared to May of 2019.  

Gainesville finished the month with 88,911 employed residents.  That number increased by 2,383 over the month but is down by 9,706 when compared to the same time a year ago.  

The number of unemployment claims went down by 45 percent in May to 13,451. When compared to last May, claims were up by about 4,325 percent.

Employ Georgia, the GDOL’s online job listing service at employgeorgia.com showed about 1,096 active job postings in metro Gainesville for May.