Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said Thursday that in July Augusta  increased its work force as all major indicators continued be positive for the year. 

At the same time, the unemployment rate inched up slightly, jobs and the number of employed residents fell inside the seven-county metropolitan statistical area (MSA).     

“Georgia’s continues to be in a period of sustained growth,” Butler said. “There are no indicators in July that Georgia is going to slow down anytime soon. These seasonal dips are normal for this time of year.” 

The July unemployment rate climbed to 4.4 percent – tied for 10th among all 14 MSAs in Georgia. The rate increased .1 percent from the previous month. It was  5.3 percent one year ago. 

The labor force climbed in July by 30 to reach 272,982 total members. Augusta’s work force has climbed by about 6,800 over the past 12 months.  

Augusta dropped 46 from its number of employed residents in July, pushing its total to 261,048. That number has grown by about 9,000 over the past year.  

Augusta  saw jobs drop by 2,000 to reach 240,200. This puts Augusta up  7,700 jobs for the year.

Initial claims for unemployment are  up by about 120 percent for the month and are up by about 43 percent for the year.  

Employ Georgia, the GDOL’s online job listing service at employgeorgia.com showed 3,384 active job postings in metro Augusta  for July. 

The seven-county MSA includes the counties of Burke, Columbia, Lincoln, McDuffie, Richmond and Aiken and Edgefield in South Carolina.