From December 2024 to March 2025, Georgia experienced a net loss of 7,542 private-sector jobs, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Gross job losses from closing and contracting establishments reached 238,711, while gross job gains from opening and expanding establishments totaled 231,169.
Victoria G. Lee, Regional Commissioner for the BLS, stated that the difference between gross job gains and losses resulted in this net employment decline for the first quarter of 2025. In contrast, during the previous quarter, job gains had exceeded losses by 27,912.
Gross job losses accounted for 5.7 percent of private-sector employment in Georgia during this period. Nationally, this figure was slightly lower at 5.4 percent. Contracting establishments in Georgia lost 183,837 jobs—an increase of 9,000 compared to the prior quarter—while closing establishments lost an additional 54,874 jobs.
On the other hand, gross job gains represented 5.5 percent of private-sector employment in Georgia; nationally they made up 5.6 percent. Expanding establishments contributed to most of these gains with a total of 182,135 jobs—a decrease of over ten thousand from the previous quarter—while opening establishments added another 49,034 jobs.
Seven out of eleven major industry sectors saw more job losses than gains in Georgia during this period. The transportation and warehousing sector reported the largest net decrease with a loss of 7,307 jobs after accounting for both gains and losses within that sector. Leisure and hospitality followed with a net loss of over six thousand jobs; professional and business services lost more than five thousand positions as well.
Conversely, education and health services recorded a net gain of over five thousand jobs—the highest among all sectors—while retail trade posted an increase exceeding three thousand positions.
The Business Employment Dynamics data series tracks these changes by industry subsector across all states as well as territories such as Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Data are compiled through cooperation between federal and state agencies under the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages program.
The next release covering second-quarter results is scheduled for February 26, 2026.
