Despite the upturn in the Augusta Leading Economic Index reported last week, employment in the metro area continues to decline. Employment fell slightly by 200 jobs in April from March and is down almost 4,000 jobs since November 2022.
Obviously, April was Masters month, and leisure and hospitality employment jumped 3,400 (not seasonally adjusted). This was less than in 2022, when the Masters bump was 4,200.
With little month-to-month change in the seasonally adjusted total employment level, most industries did not see big changes in seasonally adjusted employment levels. Most industries saw employment increase or decrease by less than 200 jobs. The largest change was seen in professional and business services, which saw employment fall by 300.
Annual employment growth across the state of Georgia has slowed over the last two years from its peak of 11.3 percent in the year to April 2021, when we came out of lockdown, to 2.3 percent. However, year-on-year growth is still positive across the state. By comparison, Augusta Metropolitan Statistical Area employment growth has declined from 10.2 percent in April 2021 to -0.5 percent in April 2023.
