For many, job hunt heats up with summer across the CSRA
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AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Whether it’s students looking for summer jobs, college grads hoping to start their career or parents relocating their family while school is out, summer is a busy time for those looking for a job in the CSRA.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce says that in May, there were 266,000 jobs open in Georgia and 117,000 in South Carolina.
Talking with multiple business owners and their employees, many tell us the job market has been all over the place.
“I’ve seen a lot of my friends struggle,” said Tripp Beasley, cafe coordinator at New Moon Cafe.
They’ll be in need of help and have a hard time finding it, while many people are looking for jobs and have a hard time getting one.
It’s been a never-ending circle, and statistics say there’s more than one reason why.
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The U.S. Chamber of Commerce says that up until April 2025, the U.S. remained in a worker shortage, meaning there were more jobs open than available workers.
This means that if every person who didn’t have a job in the country found a job, there would still be jobs open.
Many states are still facing a worker shortage issue, but on a national level, they say the gap has largely closed.
Local businesses and employees say in the summer, they’ll get more help as a lot of students are on break, but it can be hard to find permanent help.
One local business tells us that even when they are fully staffed, they are always looking to hire.
“It takes a lot of effort to even go look for a job because you don’t know how it could possibly end up, and you don’t want to fail,” said Beasley. “It’s a lot of internal struggle that comes with applying and having hope, and then getting your hopes up for not getting a job that you really want.”
Data shows the labor force has been down for more than 20 years. It’s now starting to go up, but it also took a hit from the pandemic.
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“I have heard that the job market is very harsh. It’s very competitive. It’s also a bunch of wins and losses,” said Beasley. “There’s a lot of things that don’t really work out, and I know that a lot of people are hiring, but they’re not actually hiring and it’s not really good for your mental health when you feel very hopeless, and you can’t get a job when you really want one, and you know you can work and you can do the job.”
Hoping to get a job and bring more people in the door.
“Just in general, how income always fluctuates, and how our market is just the economy in general. It’s really hard to employ a lot of people and train them and spend money on the business, cause a lot of businesses are also struggling,” said Beasley. “It’s not really the employee’s fault. It’s kind of like the hand that we’ve been dealt and the last couple of political influences we’ve had.”
Right now, many businesses do see that increase in help, due to it being summer and students on break -- but it’s finding permanent help that can be more difficult for some.
Here’s what we know going into the summer:
Georgia’s unemployment rate has been holding at 3.6% for nearly a year at a level that’s lower than the national rate, which stands right now at 4.2 percent.
So that’s pretty good news for people looking for a job.
And even when Georgia employment is on the weak side, Augusta is insulated because of Fort Eisenhower and the medical community – sectors that don’t tend to fluctuate as much as retail and other jobs that depend on discretionary spending.
Georgia jobs by the numbers
In April, Georgia jobs rose by 3,700 over the month to 4.98 million and increased by 16,000 over the past 12 months.
Accommodation and food services showed the most growth in April – which should be good news for college and high school students, who often fund summer employment in the hospitality and food industry.
Other strong sectors in the most recent Georgia statistics include transportation and warehousing; real estate and rental and leasing; arts, entertainment and recreation; and private educational services.
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Weaker sectors include information; professional, scientific and technical services; federal government; construction; and finance and insurance.
The national economy
From a national standpoint, the U.S. Labor Department reported the American economy added 139,000 jobs in May, reflecting a stable but slightly slower job market than in the previous month.
The report also revealed that the unemployment rate remained steady at 4.2%.
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Much of the national job growth occurred mostly in education and health care and leisure and hospitality. Sectors that lost jobs included retail; manufacturing; business services; and government.
Despite concerns about President Donald Trump’s tariffs on imports, “the economy is pretty stable,” said David Kass, a clinical professor of finance at the University of Maryland.
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