Fresh Loaf

Downtown Atlanta job fair

Good morning! The most recent unemployment numbers are in and they’re terrible.

Georgia’s unemployment rate rose to a record high of 9.7 percent in May, the Georgia Department of Labor says, up from 9.2 percent the previous month. May was the 19th consecutive month the state’s unemployment rate hovered above the national average.

“Georgia’s record unemployment rate of 9.7 percent is a stark reminder that the road to economic recovery will be long and difficult,” state Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond said in a press release.

According to the department, nearly 463,883 unemployed Georgians were looking for work in May, an increase of 62 percent from the same time last year. Of that number, 157,544 are receiving state unemployment insurance benefits. Approximately another 90,000 are receiving federal extended benefits.

The state saw a loss of 217,000 jobs in May. Of that number, 136,800 jobs were in Metro Atlanta. Dalton continues to be battered by the economy, posting the highest percentage loss in jobs. Atlanta Magazine’s Thomas Lake recently wrote an excellent piece about the North Georgia carpet town’s woes that’s worth a read.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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NOT A SHOCKER: Last week

Late last fall, Sam Warren lost a client who’d fallen on hard times. That client was the state of Georgia.

The 52-year-old consultant and Powder Springs resident, who made his living writing operational manuals for corporations and government agencies, learned the state was instituting a “hard freeze” on outside contracts. Warren, who says never in his life has he left one job without another firmly in place, started making calls to drum up more business. Then he made some more calls.

Now, friends who told Warren in November that they’d try to help him secure work are looking for work themselves.

“It’s dry,” he says. “Dry and dead.”

Last week, Warren was among the estimated 19,000 people who packed into the Georgia World Congress Center to compete for what’s beginning to seem like an impossible find: a job.

Read the rest of this feature here.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond

In this week’s feature, “The big hurt,” I write about Georgia’s rising unemployment rate and how it’s impacting metro Atlantans. To better understand the current economic landscape, I visited the state Department of Labor’s recent job fair at the Georgia World Congress Center. The event, which organizers estimate attracted more than 19,000 job seekers, was considered the largest in the state’s history. To view Joeff Davis’ photographs of the event, go here.

While reporting on the convention center floor, I spotted Commissioner Michael Thurmond monitoring the event from a hospitality suite. Thurmond, who’s brutally honest but optimistic about the situation, agreed to chat. After the jump, a transcript of my interview with the commissioner. In it, he talks about how the state can prepare for a recovered economy, the impact of globalization, and the job-loss story that hit him the hardest.

(File photo by Joeff Davis)

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Last week, metro Atlanta’s unemployment rate rose to 8.7 percent, the highest it’s been since 1983. And while there are glimmers of hope here and there, the bad news continues to outweigh the good.

Tomorrow evening, the state Department of Labor and WSBTV will sponsor a career expo and job fair at the Georgia World Congress Center. Department officials say 100 employers will be on hand, some of whom are hiring. The fair will be held from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.

In addition to the companies, more than 100 service providers will be on hand to help attendees learn how to pick a career, conduct job interviews, manage finances after a job loss, and other skills. A resume coach and 100 computers for job searches and resume updates will also be available. Representatives from two-year and four-year private educational institutions and technical colleges will attend to offer information about their programs.

Department officials suggest job seekers bring updated resumes and wear professional attire for job interviews. To reach the Georgia World Congress Center by public transit, check out the A-TRAIN trip planner. The Atlanta Community Food Bank will be accepting canned food donations at the door, as well.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Brooke and Solomon are too young to remember a recession as bad as this one’s likely to get. But, over the last year, the Cobb County couple has gotten an up-close preview.

“We always talk about how we never thought we’d be in this predicament,” says Brooke, who lives with her husband and two babies in a $945-a-month apartment in Marietta.

Last year, the couple moved from Texas. For a time, they rented out the house they owned back in Beaumont. But the tenants moved out and the house sat empty. With gas prices rising, the second baby on the way and rent to pay in Atlanta, Solomon’s job on a Gulf of Mexico oil rig didn’t provide enough to also carry the mortgage. They fell behind.

Then, in January, just after the birth of their second son, Solomon’s rig shut down, and he had to go to work for another oil-services company. His pay dropped from $18 to $13 an hour. The bank foreclosed on the house in Texas. Bills began to pile up.

Read the rest of this article here.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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