The Georgia Department of Labor announced this week that the unemployment rate in the Three Rivers region in May was 6.4 percent, up two-tenths of a percentage point from 6.2 percent in April. The rate in May 2014 was 7.8 percent.
The rate rose primarily as the labor force grew by 2,132 to 235,486, a much larger increase than in May 2014, when the labor force increased by 1,436. While new entrants are searching for work, they are counted as unemployed. The growth in the labor force increased the number of unemployed residents by 764.
The number of new layoffs, measured by initial claims for unemployment insurance, declined by 329, or 19.6 percent, to 1,353 in May. Most of the decrease came in manufacturing and construction and administrative and support services. Over the year, claims were down by 349, or 20.5 percent, from 1,702 filed in May 2014.
Metro Gainesville had the lowest area jobless rate at 5.1 percent, while the Heart of Georgia-Altamaha region had the highest at 7.7 percent.
Meanwhile, Georgia’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate for May was 6.3 percent, up from a revised 6.2 percent in April. It was 7.3 percent in May 2014.
Local area unemployment data are not seasonally adjusted. Georgia labor market data are available at www.gdol.ga.gov.
