The Georgia Department of Labor announced today that the unemployment rate in the Middle Georgia region was 6.9 percent in February, down one-tenth of a percentage point from 7.0 percent in January. The rate in February 2014 was 8.0 percent.

The rate declined as employers laid off 645 fewer workers in February. There were 1,562 new claims for unemployment insurance filed in February, a decrease of 29.2 percent, from 2,207 in January. Most of the decrease in claims came in administrative and support services, retail trade, transportation and warehousing, construction, health care and social assistance, and accommodations and food services. Over the year, claims were down by 70, or 4.3 percent, from 1,632 filed in February 2014.     

Metro Gainesville had the lowest area jobless rate at 5.1 percent, while the Heart of Georgia-Altamaha region had the highest at 8.1 percent. 

Meanwhile, Georgia’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate for February was 6.3 percent, down from 6.4 percent in January. It was 7.3 percent in February 2014.