Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said Thursday that the Central Savannah River region kept its unemployment rate steady in July.
 
At the same time, the 13-county region posted annual gains in employed residents. New unemployment claims were down versus July 2018, preliminary numbers showed.
 
“Georgia continues to perform well in terms of jobs, claims and other data I’m seeing,” said Butler. “Georgia’s strong economy was also clear in our local communities in July, a month that saw several again set records.”
 
Nationally, the unemployment rate was unchanged in July at 3.7 percent. Georgia’s rate dropped 0.1 percentage points to settle at 3.6 percent.  A year ago, Georgia’s unemployment rate sat at 3.8 percent.
 
Rates fell or held steady across nine of Georgia’s 12 planning regions.
 
In the region, the unemployment rate remained unchanged in July, keeping the rate at 4.5 percent. A year ago, the rate was 5.2 percent.
 
The labor force decreased in July by 454. The July total was 210,728. That number is down by 1,113 from the total from July 2018.
 
Central Savannah River ended July with 201,196 employed residents.  The number decreased by 516 in July but was up 307 as compared to last July.
 
The number of unemployment claims increased in July by 119 percent. When compared to last July, claims were down by about 5 percent.