Unemployment Spikes, but Metro Athens Still has State's Lowest Rate

New graduates and summer-job seekers contributed to a rise in the unemployment rate in May in Georgia, according to the state Department of Labor.

Georgia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for May was 7.2 percent, up from 6.9 percent in April. The rate was 8.4 percent a year ago.

The rate rose in Metro Athens, too, but it still had the lowest area jobless rate in the state at 5.7 percent. That’s an increase over the April rate of 4.9, but lower than last May’s 6.0

The labor force rose in metro Athens by 297, up to 112,887 in May from 112,590 in April, but jobs decreased by 500 from 90,500 to 90,100. Most of the job losses were in state government.

The Heart of Georgia-Altamaha region had the highest jobless rate at 9.8 percent. Oconee County had the lowest rate at 4.6 among counties.

Note: Local area unemployment data is not seasonally adjusted. Georgia labor market data are available at www.employgeorgia.com