State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said that Middle Georgia saw the number of unemployed residents climb and its unemployment rate tick up in October.

The October unemployment rate, at 5.1 percent, was up from 4.7 percent in September. The rate rose as the number of unemployed residents increased by 1,019 to 11,313. The October rate compares favorably to last October when the rate was 6.7 percent.

“Ideally, we’d rather not see the rate go up in any single month,” Butler said. “But it’s not alarming because the trend over the past year continues to look good. The numbers fluctuate from month to month.”

In October, the number of employed residents decreased by 1,527 to 209,038. However, there are 3,988 more employed residents now than in October 2016.

At the same time, the area’s labor force, which includes the total number of residents with jobs and those unemployed but looking for work, declined to 220,351, down by 508 in October. The labor force is up by 604 since October 2016.

Unemployment claims were up by 132 percent to 2,525. Claims were up in manufacturing.  When compared to last October, claims were down by 5.4 percent from 2,669.