Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said Thursday that in July Albany  increased its  employed residents and saw its unemployment rate fall. 

At the same time, both jobs and labor force declined slightly inside the five-county metropolitan statistical area (MSA).   All indicators remain positive for the year.

“Georgia’s continues to be in a period of sustained growth,” Butler said. “There are no indicators in July that Georgia’s growth is going to slow down anytime soon.” 

The July unemployment rate fell to 5 percent – tied for 13th among all 14 MSAs in Georgia. The rate dropped 0.2 percent from the previous month. It was  5.9 percent one year ago.

The labor force fell in July by 124 to reach 69,171 total members. Still, Albany’s work force has climbed by nearly 1,500 over the past 12 months. 

Albany added three new employed residents in July, pushing its total to 65,724. That number has grown by about 2,000 over the past year.   

Albany  saw jobs drop by 300 to reach 62,800. This puts Albany  up 1,100 jobs for the year. 

Initial claims for unemployment are  down by about 7 percent for the month and are down by about 15 percent for the year.  

Employ Georgia, the GDOL’s online job listing service at employgeorgia.com showed 373 active job postings in metro Albany  for July. 

The five-county MSA includes Baker, Dougherty, Lee, Terrell and Worth counties.