Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said Thursday that Augusta’s labor force increased in July.

Additionally, Augusta saw monthly increases in employment and monthly decreases in initial claims in July.

“As the state continues to reopen, we are going to see wild fluctuations up and down of the unemployment rate across the state,” said Commissioner of Labor Mark Butler.  “The numbers that we really need to focus on are the most important ones, such as increases in workforce and employment which we are continuing to see in all MSAs.”

In Augusta, the unemployment rate increased 0.2 percentage points in July, reaching 7.3 percent. A year ago, the rate was 4.1 percent.

The labor force increased in July by 2,837 and ended the month with 262,867. That number is down 5,501 when compared to July of 2019. 

Augusta finished the month with 243,561 employed residents.  That number increased by 2,098 over the month but is down by 13,899 when compared to the same time a year ago. 

Augusta ended July with 228,300 jobs. That number decreased by 1,300 from June to July and was down by 12,000 when compared to this time last year. 

The number of unemployment claims went down by 11 percent in July. When compared to last July, claims were up by about 659 percent.

Employ Georgia, the GDOL’s online job listing service at employgeorgia.comshowed about 5,181 active job postings in metro Augusta for July.