Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said Thursday that Athens recorded an unemployment rate of 3.1 percent in June, up six-tenths of a percent over the month. A year ago, the rate was four percent.

“While the seasonally adjusted state unemployment rate went down in June, it is important to note that local area rates are not seasonally adjusted to take account for fluctuations due to seasonal events that include weather, harvests, major holidays, and school schedules,” said Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler. “The increase in local rates is typical for summer and Georgia is still leading the Southern Region and third in the nation in percentage increases in employment.”

Georgia had a seasonally adjusted percent change in employment of 5.4 percent from June 2021 to June 2022. Georgia ranked 3rd (out of 8) in the South Region and 18th nationally for lowest unemployment rate, with a preliminary seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 2.9 percent for June 2022 and had the second lowest unemployment rate among the top ten most populated states (Florida, 2.8%).

The labor force decreased in Athens by 21 and ended the month with 103,368. That number is up 5,276 when compared to June of 2021.

Athens finished the month with 100,128 employed residents. That number decreased by 687 over the month and is up by 5,927 when compared to the same time a year ago.

Athens ended June with 101,700 jobs, an all-time high. That number increased by 300 from May to June and increased by 7,900 when compared to this time last year.

The number of unemployment claims were up by 47 percent in Athens in June. When compared to last June, claims were down by about 81 percent.

Employ Georgia, the GDOL’s online job listing service at employgeorgia.com showed about 3,984 active job postings in Athens for June.