Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said Thursday that Southwest Georgia’s unemployment rate increased in September. 

Additionally, Southwest Georgia saw a monthly decrease in employed residents and labor force for September.

“Although we saw some negative metrics in certain regions and counties, a majority of the areas saw increases in jobs, employed residents, and labor force,” said Labor Commissioner Mark Butler. “We really need to push the tens of thousands of jobs that we have on our online job listing page EmployGeorgia.com. The more we fill these jobs, the more our state can regulate and show positive numbers throughout all regions and counties.”

In Southwest Georgia, the unemployment rate increased by 0.4 percentage points, reaching 6.2 percent. A year ago, the rate was 3.6 percent.

The labor force decreased in September by 468. The September total was 140,730. That number is down by 6,582 from the total from September 2019.

Southwest Georgia ended September with 132,037 employed residents.  The number decreased by 978 in September but was down 9,949 as compared to last year.

Initial claims for unemployment decreased by 15 percent in September. When compared to last September, claims were up by about 868 percent.

Employ Georgia, the GDOL’s online job listing service at employgeorgia.com showed 2,136 active job postings in Southwest Georgia for September.