The Georgia Department of Labor announced today that the unemployment rate in the Northwest Georgia region for October was 7.0 percent, down one-tenth of a percentage point from 7.1 percent in September. The rate in October of last year was 7.8 percent.
The rate fell as more people went to work. The number of employed residents in the region rose by 1,173 to 374,971, up from 373,798 in September.
However, there were 3,507 new claims for unemployment insurance filed in October, an increase of 391, or 12.5 percent, from 3,116 in September.
Most of the increase in claims came in manufacturing, administrative and support services, and trade, transportation and warehousing. Over the year, claims were up by 171, or 5.1 percent, from 3,336 filed in October 2013.
Metro Athens had the lowest area jobless rate at 5.4 percent, while the Heart of Georgia-Altamaha region had the highest at 9.3 percent.
Meanwhile, Georgia’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate for October was 7.7 percent, down from 7.9 percent in September. It was 7.8 percent in October 2013. Georgia added 33,800 new jobs in October and 96,000 since October 2013, pushing its job total to 4,166,400, the largest number since May of 2008.