Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said Thursday that the Middle Georgia region added more employed residents in December.

The 11-county area also posted a monthly increase in labor force, while unemployment claims fell over the year, preliminary numbers show.

“Georgia finished the year strong by continuing to add jobs in all major sectors,” Butler said. “Moving forward, we need to attract more people to the workforce, so we can fill these great jobs.”

In the region, the unemployment rate increased 0.1 percentage points in December to reach 3 percent. A year ago, the rate was 4 percent.

The labor force increased in December by 334. The December total was 219,930. That number is down by 291 from the total in December 2018.

Middle Georgia ended December with 213,271 employed residents.  The number increased by 92 in December and went up by 1,928 as compared to last year.

The number of unemployment claims increased in December by about 15 percent. When compared to last December, claims were down by about 16 percent.