New records were set in four employment sectors for the end of 2025, including a few traditionally strong areas in the CSRA.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released the long-awaited Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) employment data for October and November last week. There was little change in the total employment in the Augusta MSA, up 200 persons over the two months to stand at 248,800.
Education and health services added 100 jobs in October and 40 in November to stand at 38,195, a record. Like the national economy, this sector has been driving job growth for a while.
Leisure and hospitality continued its strong growth in 2025, adding 150 jobs in October and 440 in November. Current employment in this sector is 29,507.
Retail also had record employment in October, at 27,877, but lost 280 jobs in November.
The other sector setting a record was information. Unfortunately, this was for the wrong reasons. Information employment is now at an all-time low of 1,800. Although this sector does include jobs in data processing, much of the employment is in traditional publishing and broadcasting industries (think newspapers and TV).
Federal employment was an interesting sector to watch in the latest figures. Those federal employees who took deferred retirement were maintained on the federal payroll through September. Federal employment locally fell by 300 in October and another 100 in November. Since February, federal employment has fallen by 900, or 9 percent. Federal employment remains much higher than before the great recession.
