State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said metro Augusta’s jobs, employment and labor force numbers grew in November, as unemployment insurance claims fell.

“This is a great jobs report,” Butler said. “All the significant numbers are trending in the right direction. In fact, records are being set. This is further proof of our growing, dynamic economy.”

Metro Augusta posted a record-high 244,000 jobs in November, up by 2,100 from a previous high of 241,900 in October. Most of the job growth came in professional and business services, trade, transportation and warehousing, and leisure and hospitality.     

Since November 2016, metro Augusta has posted 6,000 new jobs, a 2.5 percent growth rate. That compares favorably to the state’s rate of 1.9 percent and the nation’s 1.4 percent growth rate. Over-the-year job growth came in many of the same industries as the monthly job growth, along with education and health services, state and local government, and the goods-producing sector such as manufacturing and construction.  

The number of employed residents rose by 568 to 257,642. From November a year ago, the number of employed residents was up by 6,938 from 250,704.   

The area’s labor force, which includes the total number of residents with jobs and those unemployed but looking for work, was up by 402 in November. The labor force, at 269,843, is up by 5,845 since November 2016.

Unemployment claims were down by 16 percent to 1,160. Claims were down in manufacturing. When compared to last November, claims were down by 14 percent from 1,017.

The November unemployment rate, at 4.5 percent, was down from 4.6 percent in October. The November rate compares favorably to last November when the rate was 5 percent.