ATLANTA - State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler says Georgia's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 9.9 percent in June, up one-tenth of a percentage point from a revised 9.8 percent in May.
The state's jobless rate was 10 percent in June a year ago.
Butler said Thursday the end of the school year is a factor in the increase. He says non-contract school workers are usually laid off for the summer, and new graduates looking for jobs are considered unemployed.
Butler says there was an increase in construction jobs, and he says that's the industry he expects to lead a recovery.
The number of long-term unemployed workers declined for the fourth consecutive month. There were 250,500 long-term unemployed Georgians in June, down 1,300, or five-tenths of a percentage point, from May.