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

The 11-county area also posted a monthly and annual increase in labor force, preliminary numbers show.

In the region, the unemployment rate increased 0.6 percentage points in January to reach 3.6 percent. A year ago, the rate was 4.6 percent.

The labor force increased in January by 1,439. The January total was 220,413. That number is up by 706 from the total in January 2018.

Middle Georgia ended January with 212,376 employed residents.  The number increased by 34 in January and went up by 2,741 as compared to last year.

The number of unemployment claims increased in January by about 142 percent. When compared to last January, claims were up by about 3 percent.