The Gainesville metro area hit an all-time high in October for the total number of jobs, state labor officials said Thursday.
In preliminary numbers, Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said metro Gainesville posted 90,500 jobs in October, up by 1,000 from a revised 89,500 in September.
"Which should come as no surprise," Butler said. "Gainesville still has the lowest unemployment rate of all the statistical areas around the state."
The previous record high was 90,000 jobs last August. Butler said the latest growth came in the private and goods-producing sectors. Over the past year, metro Gainesville has added 2,200 jobs, a 2.5 percent growth rate.
"Metro Gainesville is a growing job market and is producing some strong economic numbers," Butler said. "This is a continuation of a great year for metro Gainesville."
Despite the record, the October unemployment rate for metro Gainesville was up a tenth of a point to 3.6 percent. Unemployment claims were up by 2.5 percent to 330.
In Northeast Georgia region, the October unemployment rate was 4.1 percent, up from 4 percent in September.
The unemployment rate for the Georgia Mountains Region, at 3.7 percent, was up from 3.6 percent in September.
