“In January we saw the rate drop in every MSA but one,” said Commissioner of Labor Mark Butler. “Starting the year off strong with such a positive indicator is promising, especially as we learn to adapt to this everchanging workforce due to COVID.”

In Gainesville, the unemployment rate decreased by 0.5 percentage points in January, reaching 3.3 percent. A year ago, the rate was 2.9 percent.

The labor force decreased in Gainesville by 308 and ended the month with 103,248. That number is down 1,344 when compared to January of 2020.

Gainesville finished the month with 99,831 employed residents.  That number increased by 221 over the month and is down by 1,759 when compared to the same time a year ago.

Gainesville ended January with 92,200 jobs. That number decreased by 1,600 from December to January and decreased by 2,300 when compared to this time last year.

The number of unemployment claims were up by about 2 percent over the month. When compared to last January, claims were up by about 128 percent.

Employ Georgia, the GDOL’s online job listing service at employgeorgia.com showed about 1,671 active job postings in metro Gainesville for January.