The Georgia Department of Labor announced today that the unemployment rate in the Three Rivers region in October was 5.9 percent, down two-tenths of a percentage point from 6.1 percent in September. The rate in October 2014 was 7.2 percent.
The rate declined as the number of employed residents increased by 1,100 to 219,889 from 218,789 in September.
At the same time, the number of initial claims for unemployment insurance rose by 91, or 6.6 percent, to 1,470 in October. Most of the increase came in construction, wholesale and retail trade and health care and social assistance. Over the year, claims were down by 182, or 11 percent, from 1,652 in October 2014.
Metro Gainesville had the lowest area jobless rate at 4.7 percent, while the Heart of Georgia-Altamaha region had the highest at 7.3 percent.
Meanwhile, Georgia’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate for October was 5.7 percent, down from 5.8 percent in September. It was 6.8 percent in October 2014.
