Written by Mayah Cantave, Asst. College Life Editor
There may be hope for Valdosta graduates in obtaining jobs and careers. Since September of this year, the unemployment rate has been steadily decreasing.
The Georgia Department of Labor released a statement that the unemployment rate was at 5.9 percent compared to the 7.2 percent rate of September 2014.
In October of this year, the unemployment rate dropped another tenth of a percent to 5.8 percent in Valdosta. In October 2014, the unemployment rate for Georgia as a whole was at 6.8 percent.
According to Mark Butler, the state labor commissioner, October’s decline in unemployment is the lowest the state has seen since 2008, which was more than seven and a half years ago.
The rate of unemployment declined as the rate of employed residents in Valdosta increased from 56,995 to 56,765 people earlier this year in August.
Even though the rate of unemployment has decreased the number of jobs in Valdosta remains unchanged from August to September.
From September 2014 to September 2015, Valdosta has lost approximately 1,100 jobs mostly from the state government and the service-related jobs.
Fortunately for Valdosta graduates, 9,100 jobs have been created in Georgia and it is ranked number three nationally for monthly job creation.
Within the last year, 84,200 jobs have been created in Georgia.
Since last month approximately 1,000 jobs have been created in the metro-Valdosta area.
In September, there were 53,800 jobs in Valdosta total.
These statistics are especially important to those graduates who choose to stay in Valdosta.
For those not sure how to find jobs or create resumes, Career Opportunities is available to help on the second floor of Powell Hall West.