MACON, Ga. — As the unemployment rate continues to drop, more 'hiring' signs are going up.
"We're not seeing a lot of individuals return back to the workforce, which has led to a very large number of vacant job openings," Georgia labor commissioner Mark Butler said.
He says it's because of the extra $300 people are getting in their unemployment checks from the federal government.
Butler says this takes the unemployment checks from $250 a week to about $550 a week. That adds up to about $14 an hour.
He says they've listened to the complaints from employers, and are transitioning to help.
"We're gonna be reinstituting work search here soon that requires people, you've got to get out there and you've got to be applying for jobs," he said.
Butler says on the flip side, employers can also report back to the department of labor if they've offered someone a job position and the person declines it.
He says if that same person is receiving unemployment, the state will contact the individual to find out why they decided to not accept.
Butler adds there's enough positions to go around for everybody.
"Right now, we have over 140,000 job listings. Now that's not just 140,000 jobs because a lot of these companies, when they list a job, they're not just looking for one person, they're looking for two, five, 10, 20," he said.
Butler says the time to start applying is now.
"There are so many employers right now across the state, obviously also in metro Atlanta, who are being very aggressive about hiring right now, offering hiring bonuses, a lot better wages that we saw pre-pandemic. So don't wait," he said.
Butler says the best way to look for jobs and apply is to visit the Employ Georgia site and create a profile.