Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said Thursday that Macon’s labor force increased in July.

Additionally, Macon saw monthly increases in employment and jobs in July.

“As the state continues to reopen, we are going to see wild fluctuations up and down of the unemployment rate across the state,” said Commissioner of Labor Mark Butler.  “The numbers that we really need to focus on are the most important ones, such as increases in workforce and employment which we are continuing to see in all MSAs.” 

In Macon, the unemployment rate increased 0.4 percentage points in July, reaching 8.1 percent. A year ago, the rate was 4.2 percent. 

The labor force increased in July by 2,100 and ended the month with 99,713. That number is down 3,523 when compared to July of 2019. 

Macon finished the month with 91,633 employed residents.  That number increased by 1,509 over the month but is down by 7,284 when compared to the same time a year ago.

Macon ended July with 96,800 jobs. That number increased by 300 from June to July but was down by 5,600 when compared to this time last year.

The number of unemployment claims went down by 5 percent in July. When compared to last July, claims were up by about 1,832 percent.

Employ Georgia, the GDOL’s online job listing service at employgeorgia.comshowed about 2,251 active job postings in metro Macon for July.