ATLANTA — Georgia now has the nation's second worst unemployment rate, according to numbers released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Only Mississippi has higher unemployment than Georgia's 7.8 percent -- much higher than the national average of 6.2 percent.
The jobless figures quickly became political fuel in the race to be Georgia's next governor.
"Georgia has lost 12,000 jobs over the last two months. We're heading in the wrong direction and we have to get it fixed," Democratic challenger Jason Carter told Channel 2's Lori Geary on Monday.
A campaign spokesman for Republican incumbent Gov. Nathan Deal pointed out that Georgia has added 83,000 new private sector jobs in 2014.
"When Gov. Deal came into office the unemployment rate was well over 10 percent. Now it's below 8 percent. What you're seeing right now is a summer blip that we see in Georgia every single year," said spokesman Brian Robinson.
Geary pulled records from 2013 that showed Georgia's unemployment also spiked last summer, climbing from 8.4 percent in June to 8.8 percent in July of 2013.
Deal's campaign attributes the spike to school bus drivers and cafeteria workers who are not paid on a 12th month basis in Georgia.
Carter has another theory.
"We are reaping what we've sewn in terms of the disinvestment from our education system. In order to have an economy that works, we have to have an education system that is generating the right kind of skills for people," Carter said.
"What you've got from Jason Carter is a lot of rhetoric without a lot of facts. The fact is we're ranked No. 1 in the work force by CNBC. If Jason Carter wants to say that CNBC is in the pocket of a Republican governor I'll let him take that case to the people of Georgia," Robinson responded.
Robinson also said Georgia's labor pool continues to grow as more people move to the state from other states.
WSBTV
