The Georgia Department of Labor announced today that Metro Warner Robins’ unemployment rate for August was 7.7 percent, unchanged from July. The rate in August of last year was 7.3 percent. 

The rate remained unchanged although the number of jobs increased by 400 and the number if initial claims for unemployment insurance, a measure of new layoffs, declined 11.7 percent.

There were 58,600 jobs in Warner Robins in August, up 0.7 percent from July. The gains came mostly in local government. And, there was an over-the-year gain of 100 jobs, or 0.2 percent, from August 2013. The job gains came mostly in retail trade and local government.    

Also, there were 318 new claims for unemployment insurance filed in August, a decrease of 42 from 360 in July. Most of the decrease in claims came in manufacturing, along with administrative and educational services. Over the year, the number of initial claims fell 18.3 percent from the 389 claims filed in August 2013.

Metro Athens had the lowest area jobless rate at 6.4 percent, while metro Dalton had the highest at 10.7 percent. 

Meanwhile, Georgia’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate for August was 8.1 percent, up from a revised 7.7 percent in July. It was 8.2 percent in August 2013.