About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (June 26, 2020)
LOCAL The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com Friday, June 26, 2020 5A Hall County area unemployment rate falls to 8% BY JEFF GILL jgill@gainesvilletimes.com The Hall County area’s jobless rate dropped to 8% in May, as the economy started to rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic, accord ing to the Georgia Department of Labor. Still, the jobs picture is a far cry from what it was a year ago, when the rate was 2.7%. “The fact that almost every single monthly indicator in May’s job market report was positive shows great promise to Georgia’s economy up ahead,” Labor Com missioner Mark Butler said. “See ing these monthly numbers begin to increase means that we are def initely heading back in the right direction.” Hall hit 10.6% in April, an all- time high, the result of a high number of jobless claims filed as businesses shut down during the pandemic. That was 8 percentage points higher than April 2019, when Hall’s jobless rate was 2.6%. Before the pandemic, the Hall area had one of the strongest econ omies in the state. Tim Evans, the Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce’s vice president of economic develop ment, has said, “Having a diver sified business community helps buffer our local economy from the worst part of an economic downturn.” Gainesville-Hall County has a broad base of manufacturing, pro fessional services and health care services. “Some businesses will be more able to adapt and weather this economy more than others,” Evans said. Tourism also is a major industry in Hall, and it was devastated by the pandemic. The unemployment rate was 73% for those working in Hall County’s hospitality industry in April, or at the height of the shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Stacey Dickson, Lake Lanier Convention & Visitors Bureau president. RULES ■ Continued from 1A Evans said. Those companies have their global headquarters in 17 nations, including Ger many, Japan, Netherlands, Korea, Italy and the Czech Republic. The administration cast the effort as a way to free up jobs in an economy reel ing from the coronavirus. One senior official speaking on condition of anonymity predicted it will open up to 525,000 jobs for Americans, a claim that was immediately challenged by critics. Evans also was skeptical. “There may be some instances, especially with software companies, maybe, but I don’t think that (job creation) is necessarily the rule.” The ban on new visas, which took effect Wednes day, June 24, applies to H-1B visas, which are widely used by major American and Indian technology companies, H-2B visas for nonagricultural seasonal workers, J-l visas for cul tural exchanges and L-l visas for managers and other key employees of multinational corporations. There will be exemptions for food processing workers, which make up about 15% of H-2B visas, the official said. Food processing is a big industry in Hall County, with such companies as King’s Hawaiian bakery in Oak- wood. It also includes poul try, which is huge in Hall. Mike Giles, president of the Gainesville-based Georgia Poultry Federa tion, acknowledged the exception, but said, “We are evaluating the full execu tive order, along with our national organization, to see if there are any potential impacts (otherwise).” Evans said that overall, “a lot of companies have had their own travel restric tions for their employees since March. They’re not necessarily wanting to put their employees in a situa tion where they would be traveling right now. You’ve got cross-border issues. The U.S. is certainly not the only country or group of countries looking at travel restrictions.” The reverse is true, as well. 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