Overall employment for the Augusta Metropolitan Statistical Area has increased by just 0.3%, or just 600 jobs, from December 2020, according to employment data for 2021 published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). There are currently 239,300 jobs in the local economy.
However, some sectors of the economy have done exceptionally well. Retail jobs, for example, are up 11.9% compared to a year ago. There are more than 3,000 additional people employed in the retail sector than a year ago. Other sectors that have more jobs than a year ago include manufacturing (up 0.8%), education and health services (up 1.7%), mining, logging and construction (up 1.5%), and transportation and utilities (up 6.0%).
The leisure and hospitality sector continues to struggle in the pandemic era. It lost almost 400 jobs over the course of last year, or 1.5%. Employment in this industry is currently less than 24,000 when it had over 28,000 jobs in March 2019. Government jobs fell by a similar 1.5%.
The sector that had the largest decline over the last year is what the BLS calls Professional and Business Services. Jobs in this sector declined by 9.7% over the last year, or over 3,200 jobs.
This is a super sector that includes a wide variety of professions such as accountants and lawyers, as well as marketing executives and veterinary services. It also includes business managers and other office administrative positions such as human resources. This sector does have large swings in jobs, but the latest numbers show a decline that is greater than witnessed in April 2020. It also indicates the ongoing effect of the pandemic stretches across many industries.
