Economy creates 69K jobs in May | News

THOMASVILLE, GA (WALB) - New numbers out Friday show the U.S. economy created only 69,000 jobs in May, the lowest monthly job creation in a year.

That pushed the national unemployment rate up a tenth of a point, the first increase in 11 months.

But even with this not so stellar news, folks in one south Georgia community are staying optimistic.

At Friday's Flowers Foods shareholders meeting in Thomasville, there wasn't any talk about job, stock, or financial loss.

"Flowers has grown from one bakery in Thomasville, family owned in 1919 to today three billion in sales with 41 bakeries all over the United States," said Executive VP of Corporate Relations Marta Jones Turner.

The same can not be said nationally.

After a weak jobs report this morning, the Dow Jones industrial average fell about 200 points.

The national unemployment rate rose to 8.2 percent in May. That's the first increase in 11 months.

The unemployment rate in Thomas County is down to 7.8 percent.

And officials say thanks to Flowers Foods and other businesses, that number will continue to fall. "We're extremely proud that we'll see over three billion dollars in sales next year so that will bring jobs here to this community as we are the headquarters of Flowers Foods," said Thomas County Chamber of Commerce President Don Simms.

Simms says there are also five major projects in the works that will also create significant job growth. "Well we can't say a whole lot about them right now, but they are coming on. Two of them represent $38 million in investments."

Flowers reps says their business has luckily stayed recession proof. "The baking business in general is a really good business to be in, in any type of economic change. People eat. Bread is pretty much a standard in the diet so it's a good business even when there is some small fluctuations in the economy," said Turner.

Simms says a new Red Lobster and Olive Garden are expected to be open by the end of the year.

He says the restaurants are sure to boost both job and economic growth.

The Labor Department also says the economy created far fewer jobs in the previous two months than first thought.

It revised those figures down to show 49,000 fewer jobs created.

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