ATLANTA – The Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL) announced today that the unemployment rate in the Southern Georgia region in May was 4.8 percent, unchanged from April.  In May 2016, the rate was 5.1 percent.

While the rate was unchanged, there were 1,648 more Southern Georgia area residents employed in May than in April, pushing the total number to 169,469. The increase in the number of employed residents in May grew by 3,262 from May 2016.

From April to May, the labor force, which consists of employed residents and those who are unemployed and actively looking for jobs, increased by 1,753 to 177,984. As the number of employed residents rose, the number of unemployed also increased by 105 to 8,515.

Compared to May a year ago, the labor force had a net increase of 2,785. The number of employed grew by 3,262, and there were 477 fewer unemployed.

The number of initial claims for unemployment insurance, a measure of new layoffs, increased by 475, or 67 percent, to 1,184. Most of the increase came in retail trade, manufacturing and construction, and health care and social assistance. Over the year, claims were up by 52, or 4.6 percent, from 1,132 in May 2016.

Metro Gainesville had the lowest area jobless rate at 3.9 percent, while the River Valley region had the highest at 6 percent.

Meanwhile, Georgia’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate for May was 4.9 percent, down from 5 percent in April. It was 5.3 percent in May 2016.

Job seekers and employers are encouraged to use GDOL’s online job listing service employgeorgia.com to search for jobs or recruit new employees. In May, 1,155 new job openings in the Southern Georgia region were posted on Employ Georgia. Throughout the state, 70,120 new job openings were posted.