State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said that metro Macon 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 Bibb, Crawford, Jones, Monroe and Twiggs counties, ended the year with 200 new jobs, 1,461 more employed residents, 581 more people in the work force, and an unemployment rate down .9 percent. Metro Macon, along with metro Hinesville, ranked 11th in Georgia for job creation among 14 MSAs tracked by the Georgia Department of Labor.

“This is a very good year for the Macon 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 Macon added 100 new jobs to end the year with 104,200. Over the 12-month period, Macon grew by 200 jobs from last Jan. 1. Most of the yearly job growth came in education and health services and leisure and hospitality.

The metro area also added 291 more employed residents last month. For the year, metro Macon posted 100,365 employed residents, up by 1,461 over the past year.  

Metro Macon’s labor force, the number of residents with jobs and those unemployed but actively looking for work, grew by 249 in December. Macon ended the year with 105,441, an increase of 581 during 2017.  

In December 666 initial claims for unemployment insurance were filed, up by 34 percent from the previous month. Since last Jan. 1 initial claims are down by 14 percent from 777. Most of the yearly decrease in claims came in manufacturing.

Meanwhile, the metro area’s unemployment rate fell from 5.7 percent to 4.8 over the 12-month cycle. The December rate, at 4.8 percent, was down from the previous month by .1 percent.