“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 Macon, the unemployment rate decreased by 0.6 percentage points in January, reaching 5.8 percent. A year ago, the rate was 3.8 percent.

The labor force decreased in Macon by 667 and ended the month with 103,011. That number is down 1,391 when compared to January of 2020.

Macon finished the month with 97,072 employed residents.  That number decreased by 20 over the month and is down by 3,322 when compared to the same time a year ago.

Macon ended January with 98,000 jobs. That number decreased by 1,700 from December to January and decreased by 5,000 when compared to this time last year.

The number of unemployment claims went up by 16 percent in Macon. When compared to last January, claims were up by about 192 percent.

Employ Georgia, the GDOL’s online job listing service at employgeorgia.com showed about 2,409 active job postings in metro Macon for January.