Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said Thursday that Middle Georgia labor force saw an increase in September.

Additionally, Middle Georgia saw a monthly increase in employed residents and a monthly decrease in initial claims for September.

“Although we saw some negative metrics in certain regions and counties, a majority of the areas saw increases in jobs, employed residents, and labor force,” said Labor Commissioner Mark Butler. “We really need to push the tens of thousands of jobs that we have on our online job listing page EmployGeorgia.com. The more we fill these jobs, the more our state can regulate and show positive numbers throughout all regions and counties.”

In Middle Georgia, the unemployment rate increased by 0.3 percentage points, reaching 5.9 percent. A year ago, the rate was 3.3 percent.

The labor force increased in September by 1,955. The September total was 208,947. That number is down by 9,589 from the total from September 2019.

Middle Georgia ended September with 196,681 employed residents.  The number increased by 1,341 in September but was down 14,744 as compared to last year.

Initial claims for unemployment decreased by 9 percent in September. When compared to last September, claims were up by about 821 percent.

Employ Georgia, the GDOL’s online job listing service at employgeorgia.com showed 4,597 active job postings in Middle Georgia for September.