Georgia Department of Labor officials Thursday morning said the Metro Gainesville unemployment rate was unchanged from June to July. It remained at 4.2 percent.
That's with the area's labor force increasing by just under 700 people. State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said those people are likely new graduates or people moving to the area looking for work.
"Over 700 individuals were actually able to gain employment, so when you see your employment number outpace your labor force number, that's a good thing."
Butler said there was also very little change in claims for unemployment in Metro Gainesville
"We saw the Gainesville area actually gain 100 jobs going from June to July. As a matter of fact, the over the year jobs picture is still very strong in Gainesville, showing just under a 4 percent growth which is about 3,300 more jobs today than we had this time last year," Butler.
Butler said that growth came in the goods-producing sector.
In the Georgia Mountains region the rate was unchanged at 4.4 percent.
The unemployment rate in the Northeast Georgia region decreased by one-tenth of a percentage point to 4.9 percent from June to July.
Full statistics for the month can be found at the Georgia Department of Labor website.
