The Georgia Department of Labor announced this week that the unemployment rate in the Three Rivers region in July was 7.1 percent, up five-tenths of a percentage point from 6.6 percent in June. The rate in July 2014 was 8.8 percent.
The rate rose as the number of new layoffs, as measured by initial claims for unemployment insurance, increased, while the labor force also increased.
The number of initial claims filed in the Three Rivers area increased by 1,986, or 100.3 percent, to 3,967 in July. Most of the increase came in temporary claims filed in manufacturing, along with others in administrative and support services and wholesale trade. Over the year, claims were up by 926, or 30.5 percent, from 3,041 in July 2014.
The labor force grew by 2,147 to 236,558. The new jobs seekers entering the labor force who were unable to get a job, were counted as unemployed.
Metro Gainesville had the lowest area jobless rate at 5.5 percent, while the Heart of Georgia-Altamaha region had the highest at 8.3 percent.
Meanwhile, Georgia’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate for July was 6.0 percent, down from 6.1 percent in June. It was 7.2 percent in July 2014.
Local area unemployment data are not seasonally adjusted. Georgia labor market data are available at www.gdol.ga.gov.
