Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said Thursday that Savannah saw a decrease in its unemployment rate in January.

“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 Savannah, the unemployment rate decreased by 0.6 percentage points in January, reaching 5.2 percent. A year ago, the rate was 3.3 percent.

The labor force decreased in Savannah by 2,066 and ended the month with 193,661. That number is down 152 when compared to January of 2020.

Savannah finished the month with 183,671 employed residents.  That number decreased by 694 over the month and is down by 3,726 when compared to the same time a year ago.

Savannah ended January with 183,100 jobs. That number decreased by 3,300 from December to January and decreased by 6,200 when compared to this time last year.

The number of unemployment claims went up by 11 percent in Savannah. When compared to last January, claims were up by about 458 percent.

Employ Georgia, the GDOL’s online job listing service at employgeorgia.com showed about 5,477 active job postings in metro Savannah for January.