Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said Thursday that Augusta kicked off 2019 with strong job and employment growth.  
 
In the two-month cycle of January and February, Augusta posted monthly gains in jobs, labor force and employed residents.  The unemployment rate fell in February across the seven-county metropolitan statistical area (MSA).
 
“We’ve started strong in 2019,” Butler said. “Communities across the state added jobs, workers and improved employment. That is very good to see.”
 
Overall, Augusta ended February with 244,300 jobs. That’s an increase of about 5,300 from the job total as of a year ago.
 
Augusta also posted gains for jobs in:

Private services

Federal government.
 
The unemployment rate inched up in early 2019, driven by gains in the workforce. The rate climbed 0.9 percent in January but then fell by 0.8 percent in February, settling at 4 percent. A year ago, the rate was 4.5 percent.
 
Nationally, the rate for February was 3.8 percent.
 
The labor force increased in January by 2,633 and February by another 591. The February total was 271,142. That number is up by 1,581 from the total from February 2018.
 
Augusta ended February with 260,317 employed residents.  The number climbed by in January by 193 and rose 2,636 in February to net at an increase of 2,829 over the two-month cycle.
 
The numbers of unemployment claims fell in February by 64 percent and were up in January by 32 percent. When compared to last February, claims were down by 2 percent.
 
In February, claims were down in manufacturing and technical services.
 
The seven-county MSA includes the counties of Burke, Columbia, Lincoln, McDuffie, Richmond and Aiken and Edgefield in South Carolina.